Meeting Minutes – July 16, 2000

Members Attending

Chris Boros – President
Jim Frye – Vice President
Peter Campbell – Librarian and Treasurer
Mike Dvorsky – Secretary
Andrew Black
Michael Houston

Non-members Attending

? Michael Houston's friend
Shalin Mody and friend – University of Illinois

Discussion

Prior to the "official" start of the meeting there was some discussion about the upcoming sumo competition. Jim Frye announced that he will bring the large sumo ring to meetings between now and the competition. There was a question about placement of robots at the start of a match. In last year's competition, placement was at the operator's discretion.
Questionnaire. Chris opened the meeting by distributing a questionnaire to all present, asking for background information and opinions about the direction the club should take.
Sponsors for sumo competition. Last year's competition had some very nice prizes donated by sponsors. Chris asked us to consider which companies should be approached this year. some of the sponsors last year were:

Parallax and Lego, contacted by Chris;
Lynxmotion, courtesy of Jim Frye;
Scott Edwards, contacted by Jim Frye;
Acroname and HVW, contacted by Jim Munro;
Rayovac, contacted by Peter.

Rechargable batteries. Chris presented some information on rechargable batteries, particularly Nickel-Cadmium (NiCd) and Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH). A few of the many points made were:

The new technology NiMH are a good alternative to NiCd. NiMH AA cells are available in 1.5 AH capacity. It is important to get the new technology for robustness—look for 1.5 AH AA cells when buying surplus to ensure you are getting new technology.
There are some good surplus deals on NiMH, but don't buy used surplus batteries.
NiCd and NiMH can deliver a current of 3 times their Amp-Hour rating, e.g. a 1.5 AH cell can deliver 4.5 Amps instantaneous current.
NiCd and NiMH cells should be stored discharged, lead acid fully charged.
NiMH has a memory effect, despite what is commonly believed. This frequently appears as a voltage depression, which can fool devices into prematurely diagnosing a dead battery.
A good charger is important to obtain the maximum number of charge cycles from NiMH cells. More expensive usually means higher quality. With a good charger, NiMH can tolerate rapid charge.

Hamfest in September, CIRC booth. We will try to have a booth at the hamfest again this year. Some ideas that people mentioned: have flyers, membership applications and meeting information available. The people manning the booth should wear CIRC t-shirts and have ID badges. If possible, the booth location should be more visible (the point was made that the prime locations and orientations are reserved for those who are willing to pay for them). A raffle might stir up some interest—maybe raffle off a t-shirt or other prize. Attendees at the hamfest can turn in their ticket stubs for periodic prize drawings—we could give away a nice prize and get a little "free" publicity over the PA system.
Publicity for club events. Chris will contact Nuts & Volts to get our sumo competition on their events calendar. Jim Frye will contact Robot Science & Technology. Other nearby clubs should also be notified (MARS, etc.). The Peoria Journal Star and Pekin Times Sunday papers should have our meeting notices on the day of meetings. Chris will work with PJS to obtain coverage for the sumo competition.
Bill Harrison for emcee. Chris is still trying to get Bill Harrison, sumo guru, to present/officiate/emcee at our sumo competition.
Video of sumo event. Jim Frye told us about a fairly advanced video class at Pekin High School. He will contact them about making and editing a video of the sumo competition.
Plaques for sumo winners. Jim Frye intends to engrave the plaques for this year’s sumo competition winners using his new laser engraver. The club will pay for materials (~$20).
U of I Aero Robotics. Two students from the University of IL arrived to discuss their ambitious team project to develop a flying robot that maps terrain. The project leader is Shalin Mody, who shared a lot of information about the project, and asked some questions about our club. Further information is available at http://www.uiuc.edu/ro/Cornbots.
Sharp IRPD. Chris brought a demonstration of the Sharp GPD02 IR ranging sensor mounted on a breadboard, connected to a PIC that processed and displayed the reading (in raw units). This sensor seems very promising for sumo robots.

Next meeting: Aug. 20