Dear all,
We've had a lot of interest in the Society and there have been many new faces around the labs which has been excellent!
In our continuing effort to help improve the efficiency of this society we shall be publishing lists of tasks to be done for the upcoming Wednesday hack session. If any take your fancy then please contact the person listed. Of course you are free to work on your own projects as usual, but this should help those who wish to get involved more but aren't sure how. Please check the link below regularly:
http://www.icrobotics.co.uk/wiki/index.php/Hackday_Buffer
Upcoming ICRS Events
Wednesdays from 1pm onwards, EEE building 506 labs
This is the time when ICRS do some real work! Basically we go to the labs, build robots, print 3D stuff, play a bit of music, order pizza... There's going to be plenty of people available to help you with your robot-related problems, just turn up
More info: http://www.icrobotics.co.uk/wiki/index.php/Wednesday_Afternoon_Hacks
Introduction to C++
Fridays, from 6pm onwards, Huxley building LT 145
The Software society is running its usual course in C++. This is a very well presented course starting with absolute basics and installing the software and progressing to many advanced topics as the course progresses. This course is absolutely free and is done in a more traditional lecture format followed by each student coding on their own laptops as demonstrators try to assist. I have been asked to remind you that no laptops can be provided for this course so you must use and bring your own. This course has no upper limit with both ICRS and Software society members and demonstrators.
More info: http://www.icrobotics.co.uk/wiki/index.php/C++_for_Beginners
Arduino workshop
[online]
Our previous president and founder of the Society, Harry Eakins, was kind enough to host a workshop focused on the Arduino micro-controller on the 27th of October. If you were unable to attend but are still interested in learning to use this micro-controller then all of his material can be found on his wiki: http://harryeakins.com/wiki/Arduino_Workshop_For_The_Curious
Projects
We have several projects that started this term or they are continuing from last year. Feel free to also propose and start on your own projects.
Eurobot
We have formed Eurobot teams for this years challenge. This years theme is a party where the robots have to clean up after some sort of party. The full rules can be found online: http://www.eurobot.org/RulesEurobot2013.pdf
This year we hope to achieve so much more using a dedicated mechanical engineering team to build really sturdy robot bases and our awesome localisation system from last year.
The arena is also taking shape but more work needs to be done on this to get it ready as soon as possible so we can begin testing our robots.
If you are interested in joining then please contact our Project Manager, Oskar Weigl (oskar.weigl10@imperial.ac.uk)
More info: http://www.icrobotics.co.uk/wiki/index.php/ICRS_Eurobot_Team
The fixed-wing UAV, alas, crashed during its maiden flight a couple of weeks ago. Great progress continues on the quadcopters and on another fixed-wing UAV frame (we're reverting to the old 'foam' frame). If anyone's interested in helping out, we've got tons of work to do - contact Max (mlh11@imperial.ac.uk) or pop into labs sometime!
Reprap
We have been printing a new frame for the newest member of our reprap family and are ready to move onto the more advanced systems to hopefully get it printing. For more info contact Josh (joshua.elsdon10@imperial.ac.uk).
More info: http://www.icrobotics.co.uk/wiki/index.php/RepRap
Robotank
We are creating a large robot tank which can act as a platform for many future projects. The tank will be able to travel great distances and at great speed over land, and will also be water-tight: allowing it to be adapted into an amphibious craft. For more information contact James (james.parkin11@imperial.ac.uk).
More info: http://www.icrobotics.co.uk/wiki/index.php/Robotank
Printed Hand
Many of you have probably seen our 3D printed hand, using components printed with our latest 3D printer. This is based on the design by inmoov: http://inmoov.blogspot.ca/. Each finger is able to move independently using fishing wire as tendons. Each finger has a tendon travelling along its top and bottom which are then connected to either end on a wheel, controlled by a servo. By rotating the servo to set degrees the tendons are able to work antagonistically to move the finger to any position. Unfortunately, it has still far less dexterity than a human hand and the servo throw is not quite large enough at present to move some of the fingers over their entire range.More info: http://www.icrobotics.co.uk/wiki/index.php/Printed_Hand
FanPix
We have started working with a company to prototype a camera mount capable or rapidly taking pictures of spectators at football stadiums. Components have begun arriving so hopefully we can begin testing some of the ideas we have.For more info contact our President, Thomas (thomasalbertclayson@gmail.com).