Servo - July 2010

Upcoming Events for Jul – Aug 2010

UBAYA RoboGames 2010 will be presented by the Universitas Surabaya in Surabaya, Indonesia, on July 31 to August 1, 2010. Go to www.elektroubayarg.com for more information.

Roaming Robots will hold events July 17th to 18th at RAF Fairford, UK; and July 23rd to 25th at the Farnborough Air Show. Go to www.roaming robots.co.uk if you want more information.

Schiele Museum “Clash of the Bots” will be presented by Carolina Combat Robots in Gastonia, NC on July 24,2010. Go to www.carolinacombat.com for more information. SV

EVENT REPORT: Power Play!

Rob t Rumble 2010

● by Pete Smith

The Museum of Life and Science, in Durham, NC, hosts this one day event each spring. Last year, three local teams got together to put on a “show and tell” about combat robotics as part of the museum’s much bigger robot-themed event.

This year, Carolina Combat ( www.carolinacombat.com) and Kitbots ( www.kitbots.com) had hoped to run an insect weight combat event and also stage the first Bot Hockey competition on the East Coast. A ban on lithium polymer batteries anywhere on museum property (other than in cell phones and laptops) turned the Bot Hockey competition into a demonstration-only of the sport with a lot of visitor participation.

Bot Hockey was conceived of by Chris Baron at Robot Power ( www.robotpower. com) as a way of combining the excitement of ice hockey with the fun of robotics. The rules can be found at are two weight classes in the rule set, but only the “Senior” class of 15 lb, 18” square bots has gained popularity. From a start in 2007 with only six “demo” bots designed by myself and built by Chris, the sport is gaining popularity, especially on the West Coast and in Brazil with the result that nine teams entered this year’s RoboGames.