Our next lecture is tentatively scheduled to be over low-level control, but may be pushed back for other lecture needs. Low-level control essentially takes the directions and speeds from the high-level control (navigation) and converts it to voltages to power the drive motors. We will cover open/closed loop methods, error correction algorithms, and discuss our approach for TechBot.
We’ve decided to change the presentation order to something a bit more timelier. This coming monday Ben Eckarkt will teach us how to program robots using Python. For those that don’t know Python, don’t be discouraged. It is one of the easiest languages to pick up and the presentation is given so that anyone can start coding for our platforms.
Our next lecture will be given by Jimmy to cover the different sensors we use, and how they are used. These cover namely vision and LADAR.
This monday will be the first in our new lecture series. Given by Dr. Canfield, it will cover many different aspects of robotics. Dr. Canfield has been in mechatronics for some time and is the advisor for TTU ARC. Again, even if you aren’t in the robotics club, you are welcome to attend our lectures. See you there!
There are two meetings during the week that we have to cover information/discussion and to collectively work on the robot. If you want to learn more about robotics, but don’t have time to make the work days, that’s ok. You will still get a lot of good information from our lecture topics. The work days are where we put the information to work and get to see the outcome.
Mondays at 5pm-6pm : brief overview of last week’s progress followed by that week’s lecture/discussion
Saturdays at 10am-6pm : Robot Saturday, work directly with the robot
Beginning September 8th, we will be hosting lectures on Mondays starting at 5pm. The first set of lectures will be over the different aspects of our robotics approach. Ranging from introductory, to low-level control and power, to sensors, to high-level navigation, each lecture will bring you up to speed on that area. These are vital to any new members that may join.
Secondly, research lectures will begin afterwards to explore different topics. These will range from stereo vision to machine learning. These will be taught by students and faculty.
You are encouraged to attend these lectures, regardless of your area of expertise. Gaining knowledge about a topic outside of your area/field strengthens your engineering skills and ability to communicate.
Each topic will be posted individually here, with a brief background to let you know what it’s about. Hope to see you there.
We’re having our first meeting of the school year and invite interested students to come by and check things out. We’ll give you a brief introduction to what we do and what we want to do.
Hope to see you there!
We’re currently working with two different robot platforms. One is a custom in-house built differential steer robot (two wheels and a caster) and the other is an EOD robot from Remotec.
Hey everyone! We’ve just set up a new website for people looking to join ARC or just want to check out our progress. We’ll post pictures and videos regularly as we progress to the IGVC 2009 competition.
For those that don’t know, ARC (Autonomous Robotics Club) is a club at TTU in which we build ~200lb robots to compete on the national level. More than just the competition, we come together to pull many different backgrounds and learn a LOT in the process. Many of us are new to the field, but that hasn’t stopped anyone. Ranging from freshmen to grad students and computer scientists to mechanical engineers and others, a wide array of ideas are all expressed and considered.
If you want to come by our meetings and check things out, we’ll be starting regular meeting times soon. Keep posted on this site for our times.