[SGVHAK] Mar 20 (Thu) Meeting Recap

[Lan Dang]

Hi all,

We had quite a productive meeting tonight.  John gifted us with the finished bottle openers from the Hardware Freedom Day demo.  We used them to open bottles of Coke.  I quite like this updated design; it feels more sturdy.  The bottle openers fit neatly in a custom acrylic plate, which can be engraved with various logos.  It makes a nice art piece if you don't have a particular need for a bottle opener.

That digression aside, we quickly went through the planning phase of the air hockey table and robot project.  I requested that the air hockey table be finished by May 2014, in the hopes of having it available for the HAK/LUG BBQ I'm planning.   The other components of the project are the robot and the scoreboard.

We are working on all the components in parallel.  John is designing the air hockey table with input from the rest of the group.  We are going for a half-size prototype so we can work out design issues before committing to a full-sized build.  John sketched out the pieces in LibreCad, which he will use as the basis for the G-code he will write for the CNC router.

James, Carlos, and Jess will explore the computer vision system of the robot.  One of the concerns was to find the right camera that would have a fast enough fps for the computer vision system.

Dave was researching motors, drivers, and belts/pulleys for the actual robot.

Steven is in charge of the score board. 

I mostly took notes and listened to the discussions.  It's fascinating what drives the design of a project.  I am mainly interested in the table because it's really cool how you can go from an idea to a CAD drawing to a physical object.

We'll probably talk more at the Saturday meeting and decide when and where the next working meeting will be.  I'm particularly interested in when we will cut out the pieces from the plywood.  We need to drill holes into the top table surface, rabbets and dados in the wood pieces for joints, and holes in the lattice structure to allow airflow.

Looking forward to the next meeting, which will be this Saturday at Hastings Branch Library.

Lan

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