14 SERVO 09.2015
First impression: Wow! There were business booths,
display booths, the robot course, an Ant and Beetleweight
combat competition area, demonstrations, classes,
workshops, the SparkFun store and, finally, the facilities tour
(Figures 1 through 5).
Their current place is much larger than their last, and
the competition area was also expanded and easier to see.
The whole course was in one place so you didn’t have to
chase robots all around the building any more. In addition,
there were third-party booths showing things that you
could buy, make, or work on. The theme here was obvious:
“Learning Electronics is Fun.” This is pretty much the
SparkFun mantra, and all of the booths were about
learning, making, and having fun while doing it.
There was no way I could capture everything going on
at this event in one of my columns — even a one hour TV
show would have trouble doing that in a way that gave
viewers/readers a full understanding. So, rather than trying
and failing, I will relay the highest points and show lots of
pictures. I say highest points because everything was a
by Dennis Clark
Our resident expert on all things robotic is merely an email away.
roboto@servomagazine.com
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answered here! From software algorithms to material selection,
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ASK MR. ROBOTO
his year, I got the opportunity to visit the SparkFun facility at their annual
Autonomous Vehicle Competition (AVC), which is just down the road from me in
Boulder, CO. SparkFun has a new building from my last visit, so I really wanted to
see what was different there as well as see another AVC. So, Mr. Roboto pinned
his press badge to his hat and went to see what the excitement was all about.
T
Figure 1. Figure 2.
Figure 3. Figure 4.
