Robotics Olympics

I met Nic from Microsoft (Singapore) in the Gold Coast at the Robotics Olympics. I always love hanging out with people who are passionate about technology and there was plenty of those at this event.

We definately had fun watching the robotics in action, to get an idea of what this is all about check out his vidcast on his blog. Sorry about the shaky camera work nic 🙂

I think j3 will be working on getting an entry to singapore for next year … maybe even in the robot dance.

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Robotic Olympics

Last week I popped up to the Gold Coast to check out the Robotic Olympics. It was great to sit and chat with some Microsoft guys (Dave Lemphers, Chuck Sterling, Nic Fillingham) and some ex-Microsoft Guys (Joel Pobar)

I was really impressed with the way the Korean and Japanese governments have got behind their kids, Korea actually booked a whole plane to get their students out here. It really put the Australian effort to shame.

We sat their stunned as these 10/11 year old kids where recompiling C++ code that was edited in notepad. I am guessing thats where the future of robotics will be for another generation.

We took some footage for MSDN Channel Nine so hopefully I will link to that soon.

Gold Coast User Group Tonight

I am heading over to the Gold Coast user group meeting tonight with Dave Lemphers, I am bring my robot along for some fun. Its always great to meet other people who are keen on technology.

Maybe even convert some people over to the world of mobility, embedded and robotics 🙂

Some simple leasons for Microsoft Robotics

After playing with this stuff over the last few months, I have some simple pointers to pass on:

1. Test your comms and interfaces before you build the robot. Its a lot easier to test if the wheels turn or not when it doesnt want to launch of the table.
2. Know where the center of the servo motors are before you put things together.
3. Wheels are easier to configure then tracks, but tracks provide better turning options.
4. Read the documentation well before you launch into things, sometimes with hardware there is no undo.