RoboColumbus2025 will be held this Saturday, 11/22/2025! The event details are at https://www.dprg.org/robocolumbus-2025/.
If you need directions to the competition site, contact secretary (at) dprg (dot) org, to receive the information. The competition is being held as the same location as last year in the Farmersville area.
DPRG’s RoboColumbus Outdoor Rover competition for 2024 was held on November 23. The competition was hosted by the Edward’s family, which is greatly appreciated by DPRG. The morning started out with the course layout. Donuts and coffee were provided for the judges and competitors. While the course details were finalized and the cone waypoints handed out, competitors made final checks on their robots and used the practice cones to set up vision systems. At midday, pizza was served, then the competition started. Each competing robot was allowed 3 runs. Winners were based on the best runs of each robot. Everyone had a good time.
Results:
| Competitor / Robot | Run 1 | Run 2 | Run 3 |
| Paul Bouchier / MowBot 1st place | 4 | ⭐9⭐ | – |
| Scott Gibson / B.E.L.C.H 2nd place | 6 | 0 | 7 |
| Scott Gibson / T.U.R.D 3rd place | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Ray Casler / Flakey mug winner | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| David Steele / Marty mug winner | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Robot Interviews:
Paul Bouchier – MowBot: MowBot Interview
David Steel – Marty: Marty Interview
Ray Casler – Flakey: Flakey Interview
Scott Gibson – B.E.L.C.H: Belch Interview
Scott Gibson – T.U.R.D: T.U.R.D. Interview
Carl Ott – Duct Tape and Bailing Wire: Duct Tape and Bailing Wire Interview
Robot Run Videos:
Paul Bouchier – Mowbot: run-1 – run-2 Paul achieved the first “perfect score” had at the Edward’s property on run 2.
Scott Gibson’s B.E.L.C.H. robot: run-1 – run-2 – run-3A – run-3B
Scott Gibson’s T.U.R.D. robot: run-1 – run-2 – run-3
Ray Casler’s Flakey robot: run-1 – run-2 – run-3
David Steel’s Marty robot: run-1 – run-2 – run-3
Robot run videos are very helpful in showing the unexpected tribulations that the robots endure while attempting the tasks of the competition. Even runs that did not go well often have lessons.
Join DPRG on October 26, 2024, 10:00AM CDT, at the Dallas Maker Space for a group meeting. The Canadian RoboColumbus Plus Competition to be held in the Stoney Creek, Onterio area has been rescheduled to coincide with the local competition in Farmersville on November 23rd.
At this month’s meeting, Dallas area competitors in next month’s local RoboColumbus-Plus competition, are encouraged to show-and-tell the current progress of their robots.
Pizza will be served at Noon. The meeting is open to all.
note: The featured image of this article is part of an inside DPRG running joke with our Canadian members.
DPRG’s RoboColumbus Outdoor Rover competition for 2023 was held on November 18. The competition was hosted by the Edward’s family, which is greatly appreciated by DPRG. The morning started out with the course layout. Donuts and coffee were provided for the judges and competitors. While the course details were finalized and the cone waypoints handed out, competitors made final checks on their robots and used the practice cones to set up vision systems. At midday, pizza was served, then the competition started. Each competing robot was allowed 3 runs. Winners were based on the best runs of each robot. Everyone had a good time.
Results:
| Competitor / Robot | Run 1 | Run 2 | Run 3 |
| Scott Gibson / B.E.L.C.H 1st place | Targ 3 Chall 3 6 Home 0 | Targ 3 Chall 3 8 Home 2 | Targ 3 Chall 3 6 Home 0 |
| Ray Casler / Not Named mug winner | Targ 0 Chall 0 0 Home 0 | Targ 3 Chall 0 3 Home 0 | Targ 0 Chall 0 0 Home 0 |
| Paul Bouchier / MowBot 2nd place | Targ 0 Chall 0 0 Home 0 | Targ 2 Chall 0 4 Home 2 | Targ 2 Chall 0 5 Home 3 |
| Scott Gibson / T.U.R.D 3rd place | Targ 0 Chall 0 0 Home 0 | Targ 3 Chall 0 4 Home 0 | Targ 0 Chall 0 0 Home 0 |
| Raj Prabhakar / Not Named | Targ 0 Chall 0 0 Home 0 | Targ 0 Chall 0 0 Home 0 | Targ 0 Chall 0 0 Home 0 |
Robot Interviews:
Paul Bouchier – MowBot: https://youtu.be/YolhCBCL1M0
Raj Prabhakar – not named: https://youtu.be/y2wCjd1kKZo
Ray Casler – not named: https://youtu.be/V-3ihW_hVs0
Scott Gibson – B.E.L.C.H: https://youtu.be/VLsHgy2Qr9w
Scott Gibson – T.U.R.D: https://youtu.be/AgF3U74yt9k
Robot Run Videos:
Paul Bouchier – Mowbot run-1: https://youtu.be/i_Vaz9umCDk
Paul Bouchier – Mowbot run-2: https://youtu.be/7xMSVBU_tXM
Paul Bouchier – Mowbot run-3: https://youtu.be/PuKplhWdNf4
Ray Casler’s un-named robot run-1: https://youtu.be/5_KFftKTdU8
Ray Casler’s un-named robot run-2: https://youtu.be/t8kH0OlS9BA
Ray Casler’s un-named robot run-3: https://youtu.be/ZcI92QCcK7Y
Scott Gibson’s B.E.L.C.H. robot run-1: Run not recorded
Scott Gibson’s B.E.L.C.H. robot run-2: https://youtu.be/DWkmYp8ATOU
Scott Gibson’s B.E.L.C.H. robot run-3: https://youtu.be/0nnqIz4XzYo
Scott Gibson’s T.U.R.D. robot run-1: https://youtu.be/l3wp4BWpVxw
Scott Gibson’s T.U.R.D. robot run-2: https://youtu.be/lReMMvJhqbM
Scott Gibson’s T.U.R.D. robot run-3: https://youtu.be/2VgmgBYOIx8
Raj Prabhakar un-named robot run-1: https://youtu.be/Mw6jTA4_pjE
Raj Prabhakar un-named robot run-2: https://youtu.be/OqOZXEvrUEo
Raj Prabhakar un-named robot run-3: https://youtu.be/XyGGVH5PbN0
Robot run videos are very helpful in showing the unexpected tribulations that the robots endure while attempting the tasks of the competition. Even runs that did not go well often have lessons.
DPRG’s RoboColumbus-2021 competition was exciting and successful, with over 30 attendees and 7 competing robots. In an exciting climax, 2nd place was taken by Raj Prabhakar in the very last run of the competition. This is the first year that RoboColumbus included remote location competitors. Pat Caron competed from Baldwin Ontario, Canada. This is definitely a contest feature we will be repeating next year. The local course was laid out by the competition’s site host, Steve Edwards, and he denies adding extra potholes. A special thanks goes to Trina Edwards, Steve’s wife, for hosting the event at their home and property. Trina made sure that the robots and their keepers all had lunch, snacks, and drinks throughout the day.
Competition Results:
Place Robot Builder Robot Name
1st Scott Gibson T.U.R.D.
2nd Raj Prabhakar/Carl Ott Duct Tape & Bailing Wire
3rd Ted Meyers Skipper
A lot of video was taken at the contest, which will require much editing. Look forward to a highlights video and photo gallery in the near future. When available it will be placed on the site as a separate post.
Meeting Video:
Chat Record: Chat record (PDF)
When
• August 17, starting at 7:30 PM Dallas time (CST).
• Robot Builders Night Virtual (RBNV) meets each Tuesday evening.
How
• Join Hangouts Meet https://meet.google.com/hey-jxuo-esf
• Or join by phone +1 405-586-5598 PIN: 682 931 335 #
Why
• Talk robots & related stuff.
• Make it easier for people to attend DPRG remotely.
Agenda
• Round table – everybody spends a couple minutes telling what projects they’re working on.
• Ad-hoc presentations – Whoever would like to show & tell.
• “Stump the club” Challenges – Ask for help if you’ve hit a roadblock in your project. Somebody in the club can probably get you pointed in a good direction – or even arrange a side bar session to help.
Note: We record a video of these sessions and post them on the DPRG YouTube channel. By joining the meeting, you’re giving consent to be included in the recording
Meeting Video:
Chat Record: Chat record (PDF)
When
• August 10, starting at 7:30 PM Dallas time (CST).
• Robot Builders Night Virtual (RBNV) meets each Tuesday evening.
How
• Join Hangouts Meet https://meet.google.com/hey-jxuo-esf
• Or join by phone +1 405-586-5598 PIN: 682 931 335 #
Why
• Talk robots & related stuff.
• Make it easier for people to attend DPRG remotely.
Agenda
• Round table – everybody spends a couple minutes telling what projects they’re working on.
• Ad-hoc presentations – Whoever would like to show & tell.
• “Stump the club” Challenges – Ask for help if you’ve hit a roadblock in your project. Somebody in the club can probably get you pointed in a good direction – or even arrange a side bar session to help.
Note: We record a video of these sessions and post them on the DPRG YouTube channel. By joining the meeting, you’re giving consent to be included in the recording
The remote location guidelines for this August’s RoboColumbus-Plus competition have been updated to improve rough spots in the original document. The changes address points brought up during discussions at RBNV or via the mailing list. All remote competitors should read the current guidelines. The new guidelines can be found at robocolumbusplus_REMOTE-20210604.pdf .
The RoboColumbus-Plus competition page has been updated with guidelines detailing how to join this year’s competition from a remote location. DPRG hopes that the many friends and potential friends who can’t travel to the local Dallas competition can join by setting up a remote course and using Google Meet to participate in the fun and challenges of an outdoor rover competition.
The RoboColumbus-Plus rules have been updated to add a new contest category and challenge. Participants now have the option of running their robot in the “robot-planned” category and taking the 3-waypoint challenge. In this challenge, the robot must depend completely on it algorithms to complete the course with only 3 target waypoints. The robot’s owner is not allowed to pre-walk the course during the competition or use additional waypoints besides the 3 given by the judges.
RBNV’s Birthday
DPRG’s virtual meeting replacement for Robot Builder’s Night Out (RBNO), named Robot Builder’s Night Virtual (RBNV), has celebrated its first year anniversary. RBNV’s initial meeting was held on March 24th, 2020. The meeting has been very successful, joining hobby roboticists from many locations including New Zealand, Canada, and around the USA, to the DPRG community. The talent and creative projects of these new friends has been invigorating to the club. RBNV has also inspired the club’s 2021 team project of developing a standard API and robot for tele-presence.
August RoboColumbus Competition Details
The competition webpage on dprg.org has been updated with all the information concerning the upcoming RoboColumbus contest on August 21,2021. If you are interested in either competing or coming to watch the fun, it is a must read. The revised rules for this year’s RoboColumbus event allow RTK-GPS and have increased the weight limit to 65 pounds. You need to read the rules document for information on other changes. One interesting change is the new prize for anyone who achieves at least one point (i.e., drives within 10 feet of a cone). All contestants that score at least one point will receive a custom RoboColumbus coffee mug that will only be rewarded for this event. The custom mug for contestants that achieve a score of nine will receive a special mug that has the message “Perfect Score” added to the design. The top three places will also receive an additional prize.
