Tag Archives: robots

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!

Line Following Parade at Dallas College – Eastfield Campus – 4/11/2026

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Presentation:  Presentation (PDF)

A DPRG Team of Mark Reynolds and Doug Paradis participated in a Line Following Parade held by Dallas College – Eastfield Campus on April 11, 2026. Their entry was based around a theme of “Roborama”. It consisted of two parts: a line following robot with a ultrasonic sensor that allowed the robot to match the speed of a leading robot, and a float that contained automaton simulations of a line following and a 6-can competition, a workbench with a laptop with an OLED display screen, two posed test dummies, 84 addressable LEDs, and a posed Robie that looked like it was driving the robot. See the presentation for details of the entry.

The entry was very well received at the event, which the sponsors hope to make happen yearly. Multiple DPRG members came to the event to support the team.