Category Archives: News

Roborama 2026 – 5/23/26

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DPRG held its 30th Roborama competition on May 23, 2026. The competition was brisk, with several outstanding performances. A new club record was set in Six Cans by Ray Casler, who broke Scott Gibson’s long winning streak in this contest. However, Scott remained a strong competitor across all the contests, achieving a less than 1/2-inch “start to end” difference in 4-Corners. Scott also continued to dominate the mini-Sumo contest despite pressure from Mike Williamson. Mike Williamson won Barrel Racing with his ROS 2 robot RR26.

A description of the competition’s contests can be found at https://www.dprg.org/roborama-2026/ .

Results:

Competition First Second Third
Mini Sumo Scott Gibson (#9) Scott Gibson (Sid Vicious) Mike Williamson (MS26)
Quick Trip Scott Gibson (7 – CanMan, 22.93 sec)  Scott Gibson (7 – #9, 43.19) David Ackley (7 – Ace Ackley, 1:10.5)
Four Corners Scott Gibson (0.375” – #9) Mike Williamson (3.125” – RR26) Scott Gibson (3.25”, CanMan)
Advanced Line Following Contest not run    
Barrel Racing Mike Williamson (RR26, 43.84 sec) Scott Gibson (CanMan, 45.03 sec)  
Six Can Ray Casler (6, The G.O.A.T., 1:13.68min)
⭐NEW CLUB RECORD⭐		  Scott Gibson (6, CanMan, 1:34.44min) Scott Gibson (6, #9,  1:58/91 mins)

The schedule, rules, and all other details can be found at the  Roborama 2026 webpage.

 

This annual event is always a lot of fun, even as a spectator. Everyone is welcome.

DPRG Monthly Meeting – Unitree Go2 Robot dog (and maybe more…) – 4/25/2026

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Meeting AI Summary

The April monthly DPRG meeting featured a presentation by Sensori Robotics, who demonstrated their Unitree Go2 Robot dog. It was a chance to see a robot “dog” go through its paces. Sensory Robotics also discussed their pivot from robotic mowers to building research-focused, wheel-based, bi-manual humanoid robots that use physical AI software. Ross Melbourne explained that the shift to Vision Language Action models and zero-shot learning is driving massive funding toward humanoid robotics.

After the presentation, Sensory Robotics had a give-away of excess inventory from the Robotmow mowers that they have liquidated. The give-away included brushless DC motors, wheel motors, mower wheels, and various other parts.

The post meeting show-n-tell which is always an interesting time to share ideas. Tnis month’s show-n-tell included a demonstration by Jason of his animatronic robot prototype, ‘Endoskeleton’. Also, Mike Williamson made robot runs of his 495-gram sumo robot and his ROS barrel racing robot. They performed very well.

A pizza lunch was served after the meeting. Next month is Roborama!

RBNV – Robot Builder’s Night Virtual – 4/7/26

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Meeting Video:

AI Generated Meeting Summary:  Meeting Summary (PDF)
Star Rewards  (★ = significant robot progress, ⭐ = robot progress and running on floor):
Stars are awarded by group during the meeting.

Mike Williamson – ⭐
Ray Casler – ⭐
Mark Reynolds – ⭐

When

• April 7, starting at 7:30 PM Dallas time.
• Robot Builders Night Virtual (RBNV) meets each Tuesday evening.