I suppose the Internet tubes need cleaning once in a while... Our ISP is scheduling some downtime for upgrades on January 27, 09:00-12:00 UTC (that's 2am to 5am Mountain time here where Solarbotics is). Sorry for the hiccup!
The 2004 Robotgames are over...
Dave Hrynkiw
May 17, 2004
...and it was fun! Solarbotics was busy, showing off our new kits and gear motors, and shaking hands with a large number of our customers.
Yeah, there weren't any "official" BEAM events, but we still had a good time running our Solarbotics-sponsored SolarSpeeder race, with the winner being 8(?) year old Devon Bateman (taking home a Sumovore kit), followed by Tom Gray (who loves HexPummers), and then Mike Ball (who gave his ScoutWalker 1 to 4th place winner Jessica Bateman).
Competition-wise, we did pretty good! Our own Grant McKee is the WCRG Advanced Mini-Sumo Champion with "Ender's Wraith" (which also won 2nd at Robolympics), with myself (Dave) taking 3rd with "2Strong2Bad" (hmmm... a repeat of Robolympics). Ah, at least I managed to FINALLY defeat Dave Hylands' "Marauder", although his new "Stinger" did manage 2nd. This time... It was worth noting that "Stinger" uses GM12's and K SMD motor drivers!
Sumovores did pretty well too. Our own stock "Sumovoracious" with an Atmel add-on board finished 5th at line-follower, followed by James Wilson's "The Hulk" (fully stock) Sumovore in 6th. "The Hulk" also won 1st at amateur mini-sumo!
For full event competition summaries, check here (don't blame me if the auto-page change goes to quick!). We'll see about pictures in the near future...
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Interesting stuff at the Exploratorium
Not exactly relevant to BEAM, but an interesting distraction: Here's some interesting media from the San Francisco Exploratorium. Notable media to watch is their "Iron Science Teacher" competition (familiar with "The Iron Chef? Same idea...), and their hosting of Robot Sumo Wrestling.
The Solar Marble Machine
... is here! Check it out in all it's glorious wooden-ness (Russian birch-ness even!): Starting today the Marble Machine is available at our website for backorder, and fully available for purchase starting May 18. The Solar Marble Machine is a result of collaboration of Solarbotics with MSRaynsford, whose original design was reworked as a solar-powered […]
Tah-DAAAA! Welcome to the new digs!
...And by "digs" I mean website! Thanks to all of you who've dropped in for a looky-loo while the paint dries. We're still (metaphorically) moving the furniture in, but everything is ready to roll. Stay tuned while we finish tweaking and installing new content! Thanks, Dave
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