Things are happenin' up in here in kayaking land.

We're putting together our project and we are scheduled to test on August 6th. It's coming together nicely.We are currently building a system where physical rudder control is not needed and the hand controller mechanism  is steered by an App on your smart phone controls the whole shabang(how rad)! So all you have to do is sit back, chill and enjoy your day on the water.

When Robots and Kayaks Collide. BOOM.

 Hey, cool stuff coming at you from the people that brought you dataczar(We're back)!
Introducing a new way to kayak with GPS technology

Stay tuned for more info about this super cool, super rad, new thing!

Practice driving

Here I try to drive around three trash cans:

back together again

And then we put it back together again...

Hammering out dents

Hammering out dents and repairing innards ... And making roboteq modular while we're at it.

What the Battlebot needs:

1. Non-corroding gas hose - we almost got disqualified for this when we showed up last time. - on order
2. Driving practice - on order
3. More gradual turning response - on order
4. Bang out dents and re-level the bot - IN PROGRESS
5. Tire repair - DONE
6. More driving practice - on order
7. A cool new name - on order

Battlebot repair

Worked on repairing tires. We drilled holes for cotter pins through the shaft. We are supplementing the set screw with a cotter pin to prevent slippage. This seems to become an issue in battle.



What the Battlebot needs:

1. Non-corroding gas hose - we almost got disqualified for this when we showed up last time. - on order
2. Driving practice - on order
3. More gradual turning response - on order
4. Bang out dents and re-level the bot - working on it
5. Tire repair - working on it
6. More driving practice - on order
7. A cool new name - on order


In other news: I disassembled our decommissioned supercomputer...

Kids with guns... and robots

1. Behold - wholesome educational stuff:




2. Crack open the battlebot to figure out how it should be retooled:




What the Battlebot needs:

1. Non-corroding gas hose - we almost got disqualified for this when we showed up last time.
2. Driving practice
3. More gradual turning response
4. Bang out dents and re-level the bot
5. Tire repair
6. More driving practice
7. A cool new name

Wish list:

1. Quick release mechanism
2. Weight reduction to make room for:
3. ...defense against flipping or a defensive flipper
4. ...defense against catching on the floor or walls
5. Define how long we can run gas continuously without running out or burning up
6. Micro-controller for drive processing with gyros
- this could allow for a rotation mode
- recall that smashing people with our face was our most effective weapon last time


3. Rovio by Joystick

Scott got Rovio running by Joystick via ROS. Neat. Golf cart should be no problem.