DPRG mailing list archives: [DPRG] Robot building survey

Mon Dec 11 21:20:18 CST 2006

On 12/11/06, Eric Sumner <kd5bjo at gmail.com> wrote:
> * Why aren't you building a robot?

Well I am, a robot here in Austin on the bench, but more importantly
the Tankbot GTR is still under construction.

> * Why aren't you making any progress on your robot?

The Tankbot made great progress when all 'team members' could meet at
the Warehouse every Tuesday.  I found it was great to have a specific
time set aside each week to do some work on the robot.  For crunch
time, we'd show up as needed, but otherwise, the weekly meeting was
great.  Not too often to get burned out, but often enough to not
forget what was going on.  I bet other groups of people could work
together on a similar schedule.  The DPRG has had weekly meetings at
other venues and times in the past.

> * If you are making progress on your robot, why haven't you told the
> rest of us about it?

Steve and I just exchanged some emails to this end, and we should have
some documentation in the form of a build log up soon.  The Monthly
meetings and contests also made a great time to display our work.

> * What can the club do to make building a robot more enjoyable for you?

Relocate to Austin? Ha! Well when I had the luxury of showing up every
week, I saw a lot of people spinning their wheels (figuratively!) on
issues that had long been resolved for other robots.  I think
something like a wiki, or perhaps just more 'Project' and 'Articles'
for the DPRG website could go a long way.  There is an excellent
H-bridge article and another about hacking a servo.  If anyone in the
club has questions about how to do something, we should be able to
point to a common set of knowledge.  A FAQ or Wiki would be a lasting
record of what the club has figured out.

Anyone else who has worked on the Tankbot: does this match up with
your impressions of the project?   Perhaps some long-time members can
shed some light on past DPRG group projects.  I remember the last time
GARP was discussed, a few people involved mentioned that focusing the
group was a difficult task.  Would anyone involved with GARP think
that it could have benefitted from breaking it into Mechanical,
Electical, and Programming?

Ed Paradis