Tag Archives: robots

RBNV – Robot Builder’s Night Virtual – 11/25/25

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When

• November 25, starting at 7:30 PM Dallas time.
• Robot Builders Night Virtual (RBNV) meets each Tuesday evening.

How

• Join Google Meet https://meet.google.com/mwm-imzg-rss
• Join by phone: (US) +1 470-222-8542 , PIN: 334726924

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.

RoboColumbus-2025: Results, Robot Interviews, and Run Videos

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DPRG’s RoboColumbus Outdoor Rover competition for 2025 was held on November 22. 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.

Congratulations to Scott Gibson, who achieved a Perfect Score in a Human-Planned run (unlimited waypoints) and a 6 in the 3-waypoint challenge.

 

Results:

Competitor / RobotRun 1Run 2Run 3
Scott Gibson / B.E.L.C.H 1st place – Perfect Score⭐9⭐
(5:37 + 2min penalty)		3
(3-wpt Challenge)		6
(3-wpt Challenge)
Scott Gibson / T.U.R.D
2nd place		3
Steve Edwards / Yarbo Mower Tractor
— Demo Run —		7
Mike Williamson / RC25–

Robot Interviews:
Scott Gibson – B.E.L.C.H: Belch Interview

Scott Gibson – T.U.R.D: T.U.R.D. Interview

Mike Williamson – RC25: RC25 Interview

Run Videos:

Scott Gibson’s B.E.L.C.H. robot: run-1  – run-2 – run-3

Scott Gibson’s T.U.R.D. robot: 

Steve Edward’s Mower robot (demo): run-1

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.

RBNV – Robot Builder’s Night Virtual – 11/18/25

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When

• November 18, starting at 7:30 PM Dallas time.
• Robot Builders Night Virtual (RBNV) meets each Tuesday evening.

How

• Join Google Meet https://meet.google.com/mwm-imzg-rss
• Join by phone: (US) +1 470-222-8542 , PIN: 334726924

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.

DPRG Monthly Meeting – Using Git and GitHub and AI Generated Movie – 10/25/2025

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Video:

AI Generated Meeting Summary:  Meeting Summary (PDF)

DPRG’s October monthly meeting was held at the Dallas Maker Space on October 25, starting at 10:00 AM.

The meeting this month was a double-header talk.

DPRG member, Paul Bouchier, completed a talk on Git and GitHub originally scheduled for the September meeting. He explained why individual robotics developers would benefit from using these tools. The talk covered how to get started, how to perform frequently used operations, and common scenarios.

Guest, Thomas Messerschmidt, showed and discussed a movie he made using AI. The movie’s plot is an interview with an AI that went badly off the rails. This should be a fun watch.

After a pizza lunch at Noon, the floor was open for a “Show and Tell” session.

    • Scott showed his Robocolumbus robot, Belch
    • Paul & Mark showed improvements to the Makers Pet robot
    • Eric showed improvements to his robot