The date for DPRG’s Fall 2019 Competition has been changed from 11/9/19, to 11/16/19 (3rd Saturday of November). A time slot has been opened up for Donkey Car training, 10 AM to Noon. Contests start at Noon. See Fall Competition for details.
Category Archives: News
Fall Competition Contests Released – Time to prepare
DATE CHANGE: From 11/9 to 11/16
The DPRG’s Fall Competition is on November 9th! We have about two months to get ready. The Fall Competition is a low pressure, friendly competition where hobby roboticists of all skill levels can play with their robots. It is an excellent time for beginners to test their first robot, or old hands to explore new ideas and methods. Details and contest rules for the competition are at Fall Competition.
DPRG is encouraging every member to try and compete in at least one contest. The contests are open to the public. Anyone can compete (student teams are encouraged) and all are welcome to watch.
New to the hobby?
Not sure if you are ready to compete?
There are two contests just for you. “Basic line following” tests your robot’s ability to follow a line with gentle curves. “Quick Trip” tests whether your robot can drive in a straight line, turn around, and drive back to its starting location.
Want a slightly bigger challenge?
There are two intermediate contests that may appeal to you. “Advanced line following” which adds several harder elements to the line following course. “Six-Can” where your robot attempts to remove 6 florescent orange soda cans from an arena. Robots participating in “Six-Can” often use computer vision to assist with the task, however the problem has been solved using nothing fancier than an ultrasonic distance sensor and odometry.
None of the above interests you?
Want a true challenge?
There are three advanced contests that will allow you to show your hobbyist roboticist chops. “Challenge line following” which takes line following to another level. The course includes background / line color switches, line width variations, tricky elements, and more to test your robot’s skills. You have to see the course to appreciate it (see: Challenge LF course). There is “Donkey Car” where small robots run a course using vision, learned speed and steering inputs, and utilize a neural network to determine outputs. Finally, there is “Sample Retrieval” where your robot starts at a home location and must return 5 specific generic items spread around the room on the floor to home base in a given time. This contest begs for the use of AI “object recognition”. Note: All Sample Retrieval objects are available every Tuesday night at Robot Builders Night Out (RBNO).
All contests require that your robot be autonomous. No robot drivers here…
Introduction to the ESP8266 – Monthly Meeting Topic – Sep 14th, 2019
Steve’s code and presentation slide deck: code_and_slide_deck
DPRG member Steve Edwards will present an Introduction to the ESP8266. The ESP8266 is an easy to use, inexpensive, yet powerful 80 MHz WiFi micro-controller. You will learn how to create a simple and secure REST api (Web Service), which will allow you to send commands or query information from your robots or other electronic projects. Steve will also be demonstrating one of his recent projects. A lot of blinking LEDs are involved.
This is a great opportunity to learn about the ESP8266.
The meeting is at the Dallas Maker Space and starts at Noon on Saturday, September 14th.
Autonomous Rover Robot with GPS RTK and Novel Control System – Monthly Meeting Topic – August 10th, 2019
Ross’s slide deck can be downloaded at: slidedeck (PDF)
Guest speaker Ross Melbourne will demonstrate his autonomous rover robot which uses GPS RTK for navigation, and a novel robot control system that employs Unity and Python. Ross’s robot control system has potential practical applications such as: robotic lawn care, security patrol robots, and autonomous delivery services. Ross’s talk will cover both the challenges and the lessons learned that he experienced while building the robot.
This is a great opportunity to see a sophisticated antonomous rover build.
The meeting is at the Dallas Maker Space and starts at Noon on Saturday, August 10th.
Moon Day – 50th Anniversary of Apollo 11
Moon Day 2019 held at the Frontiers of Flight Museum celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. DPRG and Iron Reign, a very successful FTC team, both hosted booths at the event. Their booths contained multiple robotic themed demonstrations that allowed the crowd to participate while learning something new.
DPRG 
Iron Reign
DPRG Picnic – 2019
July was the month in past times that DPRG held its annual club picnic. For one reason or another this tradition had fallen by the wayside. However this year, thanks to the gracious invitation of Steve and Trina Edwards to host the picnic, DPRG members and families gathered to relax and have fun. The club thanks Steve and Trina for their wonderful hospitality.
Untangling the Mesh: Bluetooth, BLE, Zigbee, Wi-Fi, LoRa, DigiMesh, Z-Wave … – Monthly Meeting Topic – June 8th, 2019
Brent’s slide deck: slide_deck (PDF)
The multitude of radio communication protocols available to the hobbyist roboticist can be overwhelming. At the June 9th monthly meeting presentation “Untangling the Mesh: how to choose between Bluetooth, BLE, Zigbee, Wi-Fi, LoRa, DigiMesh, Z-Wave, …”, guest speaker Brent Grimm will compare and contrast BLE to other wireless protocols.
This is a great opportunity to introduce yourself to the various trade-offs between wireless communication methods and how they can be used control or share data with your robot.
Note: Ron Grant shared a very interesting show and tell of his Challenge line following course simulator. See the video above.
The meeting is at the Dallas Maker Space and starts at Noon on Saturday, June 8th.
Graduation Celebration!
Jack Jones, DPRG’s currently youngest member, graduated from high school this year. His family graciously invited DPRG to join in Jack’s graduation celebration. A very good time was had by all, and the club thanks Jack’s family for their invitation. The club presented Jack with a DPRG cap and mug to help him start his college career.
Roborama 2019 Gallery
Nothing gets the enthusiasm going like a good robotics match. The enthusiasm at Roborama 2019 was epic. Everyone was excited and enjoyed themselves.
DPRG would like to thank all the competitors that participated, all the members who helped manage the event, and our sponsors. A particular shout out goes to: Mouser, Pololu, Rev Robotics, and Tanner Electronics for their support.
Here is a gallery of some of the sights at the competition. Click on the images to see an expanded view.
Roborama 2019 Pre-registration
Pre-registration Time is NOW!
With Roborama 2019 less than a month away (May 11th), it is time to pre-register your robot team. If you tried and ran into problems, those problems are now fixed. Try again. Pre-registered teams get the best pit area placements. This year’s competition has several contests that will test your robot’s skills. Come compete, win, and take home great prizes.
- Plastic Fastener-only Sumo – a student only event. Pits your robot in a contest of strength and strategy as you attempt to push your opponent from the arena.
- Line Following – with contests for beginners through advanced competitors and a special student only contest. Tests if your robot can follow a line around the course.
- Quick Trip – an open event. Can your robot go straight? Can it make a 180 degree turn? This contest tests a fundamental skill of your robot. Never been in a robot competition? This might be your contest.
- Four Corners – an open event. So your robot can go straight and turn, can it maneuver a large square and come back to its starting location? How close can it come?
- Table Top (classic) – an open event. This contest is for the daring. Your robot moves around a table top with nothing to keep it from taking the plunge to the floor as you perform three tasks.
- Can-Can Soccer – an open event. Race another robot to collect cans while not getting confused or hitting your opponent.
More information and rules to the contests can be found at: