Notice of Intent to Reactivate the Competitive Robotics Committee

Would DMS members be expected to pay?

The club and/or the committee should decide, but I would hope not.

I think there will be plenty of nonmembers attending and there is an additional entry fee to compete.

Ahhh, now more questions.
Is this going to be DMS owned and controlled or is DMS effectively just providing free space to an outside club/organization?

My current understanding is that TRC owns their arena, so we are mostly providing space. I am not privy to why, but it is no longer based at Banana R/C Raceway.

I expect new members joining to use our facilities to build bots.

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Some suggestions and comments.
From an organizational stand point, I think DMS would be better served if there was
overall Robotics Committee with the following SIGs under it:
Competitive Robotics
Industrial Robotics
Remote Control (RC)
and ??

I’ve had people ask me / post out to Talk what DMS has to offer in the way of robotics. It’s a broad topic
with lots of varying interests.

Step back and take a look at the bigger picture.

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To take that a step further, these should maybe be SIGs under the Electronics and Robotics Committee?

That has been brought. Some liked the idea, others didn’t.
I don’t have a dog in the hunt.
The group needs to decide how they want to organize and proceed.
Having a committee and/or SIGs will make it easier for people w/ these interest to find a contact.

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3 TRC members indicated they would be joining DMS at Sunday’s meeting.

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Perhaps. I don’t have that kind of broad view. The Competitive Robotics Committee was already formed for the purpose that I want to pursue.

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Glad to hear it. As far as Dallas Makerspace is concerned, I think the idea of putting all Robotics under one committee is a great idea. We can benefit from the collective knowledge of many and have a greater standing because we will have more interest and members. We already have new hardware and a potential place to put a robotics committee. I think it should all be under one committee instead of having combative robotics and another committee for robotics. The Robotics SIG already has enough members to warrant forming a committee.

https://dallasmakerspace.org/wiki/Robotics_Interest_Group

We should create a Robotics Committee and merge Combative and the Robotic Arm as well as any other robotics related interest groups into it.

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Let’s talk. Are y’all meeting at 3pm on Sunday?

I would definitely support this effort if a Robotics Committee was formed with Competitive robotics is a SIG within.

Agreed on general robotics committee with various SIGs.
I’m not particularly interested in competitive robotics, but would like to pursue some other robotics interests.

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The Competitive Robotics Committee met last night at the Makerspace and voted unanimously to reactivate. 7 members attended and there were 7 more proxy votes. I was the only nomination for Chairperson and accepted.

We unanimously decided to pursue merging with the Robotics SIG and forming a Robotics Committee. Let’s meet up and talk. Are y’all meeting Sunday at 3pm? @Draco @Bernard_Gray @andrewboerder @actionjackson @thespacemaker @matthshooter @TBenV @RhodesM

The Competitive Robotics Committee has $1000 earmarked from our Battlebots exploration two years ago. We voted to reimburse Frank for the three Banana pit desks he purchased. We plan to propose to the BoD to be allocated 300 sq ft for our arena, pit desks/workspace, (and Robotics SIG robotic arm?). We believe that the warehouse area in the expansion would be ideal - perhaps next to JSM or Hatchers.

We discussed hosting Texas Robot Combat events in the Makerspace. TRC will loan the arena to DMS, pending TRC member vote and allocation of space by the DMS BoD. For events, TRC can partially disassemble the arena to bring it through the double doors into the expansion office area. It is thought that the logistics area in the center of the expansion office area would be an ideal place to hold a competition because it is the largest contiguous logistics area where the work tables could be moved to the side temporarily and replaced with event spectator seating. Also, it would be a safer area for children as opposed to the warehouse. There is a “Lobby Classroom” in the front of the expansion that would be ideal for competitor pits. A smaller arena is in the works by TRC that could more easily move through the double doors and handle smaller weight classes. That way, there could be quarterly small events and bi-annual large events, for example.

The events will be free and open to the public according to Makerspace policy. TRC will charge a fee per bot entered, a portion of which will go to the Committee. TRC offers prize money for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in each of the three weight classes as well as Best Driver, Best Engineered, and Most Destructive. TRC has historically sold concessions at events, but is willing to cease if required by DMS.

There is no initial capital expense or tools required except for the desks and perhaps extra fire extinguishers. TRC maintains the arena with the robot entrance fee funds and membership dues. Publicity is through a Twitch stream and social media. Robot components are paid for by each competitor. Robot builders who are DMS members will utilize Makerspace resources such as the Machine Shop, Metal Shop, 3D Fab, and Electronics Lab. One TRC member signed up as a DMS member last night and more are anticipated.

Teaching classes is a point of emphasis, so we decided on these topics and times: Frank and Phil - “Combat Robotics 101” on 1/16 at 7pm, Logan - “Remote Control Tuning and Programming” on 1/24 at 7pm, and Brady - “150 gram Combat Robot Assembly” on 2/10 at 1pm, Mitch - “3D Printing a Combat Robot” TBD.

The next committee meeting is tentatively scheduled for 2/13 at 6:30pm, but a lot depends on our anticipated merge with the Robotics SIG and the Board of Directors meeting on 1/21.

Meeting adjourned after one hour and ten minutes.

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Are these (aside from the TBD occurrence) submitted to Calendar? Do we know the location(s)?
Thanks!

Last night, I submitted

Frank and Phil - “Combat Robotics 101” on 1/16 at 7pm

for the Lecture Hall.

None of the others yet.

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I will be at the space Saturday afternoon. Draco and I are planning on meeting Tuesday evening. Sunday was the original time but I’ve pushed for Tuesday evenings recently. Though I am flexible.

Andrew

Tuesday would be great! When and where?

https://calendar.dallasmakerspace.org/events/view/9668

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