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Robotics at Washington State University

To navigate the website please click on the links to the left.

The Robotics Club at WSU is a group of students from a variety of different engineering disciplines who are working together on robotics research and education. Our goal is to provide a hands on environment for students to use and develop their engineering skills, while at the same time having fun. If you are interested in joining or getting involved just stop by at one of our meetings.

Welcome to the new version of the Robotics at WSU web site. We are working on bringing you more interesting content all the time. Be sure to check out our current projects. We will be providing updates periodically as our projects continue.

Recent Updates

2008-01-29 :: Helios Budgeted

We now have money to continue work on our helios project thanks to CEACC

2008-01-26 :: CEACC Proposal

We are recommending everyone attend our next meeting (Sunday January 27, 2008 at Noon at the robotics lab, map available here) where we will be preparing for our CEACC presentation on Tuesday to attain funding for Helios.

2008-01-06 :: Meetings notes

Kyle has volunteered and been accepted by a 4-0 vote of those present to be the meeting archiver and CEACC representative until further notice. Meeting notes for 2008 have been started and are available here

2008-01-06 :: Spring Semester

Until further notice, meetings will be the same time/place/day as last semester that being Sundays at noon in the robotics lab (ELB59), a map to the lab is available on the meetings page. This week we will be working on a funding proposal for new projects. And we will be doing some retrofits to the CNC machine (need strong bodies).

2007-12-9 :: Robotics Updates

We've had some success with our sumobot manufacturing process and hope to have a competition of sorts in the spring. We've been rewriting the software for Eddie and prepping a new interface controller for fabrication, we've also setup a wiki to help document our new projects.

2007-10-18 :: Fall 2007 Meetings

Until further notice meetings have been moved to being on Sundays at noon by default. Last Sunday some success was had in operating the CNC machine and we have begun an attempt at reverse engineering the preivous Robo-Magellan bot 'Eddie'

2007-10-5 :: Sunday Meeting

This week the normal Saturday meeting has been moved to Sunday. It is still at noon and still in the robotics lab. Hope to see you there.

2007-9-21 :: Fall 2007 Meetings!

The first meeting of the Fall 2007 semester will be Saturday, September 22 at 2PM in the robotics lab. Details on finding the lab can be found on the meetings page.

2006-10-17 :: Meetings moved to Wednesdays

We've moved our weekly meetings to Wednesdays at 7:00PM in the usual location; details can be found on the meetings page.

2006-10-09 :: Robothon 2006

WSU Robotics brought Eddie to Robothon again this year and took first place in the Robo-Magellan event. Eddie was the only robot to successfully complete the course this year. Robots needed to leave from a starting point, touch two cones, and return to a cone at the starting point making a large triangle. Cones were not visible from each other and there was an area between two of the cones that was out of bounds.

Thanks to johnmciv for posting a video of the event on YouTube.

2006-08-29 :: Fall 2006

A new semester is beginning and we are now announcing our first meeting. The first meeting will be 6:00 PM on Tuesday September 5th. The location will be in the robotics lab (see the meetings section). This year we plan on going back to Robothon with Eddie. We are also continuing our work with Sumo-bots. We look forward to seeing you there.

2005-10-09 :: Robothon 2005

We have just returned from competition at the Seattle Robotics Society's annual "Robothon" with rather positive results. More details will be forthcoming in the following days; for now, however, pictures are said to be worth a thousand words...

 


2005-09-20 :: Wednesday Meeting Demonstration

On Wednesday (2005-09-21), we will be holding our weekly meeting at 5:30PM in Sloan 169, rather than the ELB. Among other things, we will be demonstrating the Robo-Magellan robot and providing an overview of the club's various projects and goals.

2005-09-18 :: Robo-Magellan Videos

We've captured a few videos of the robot operating via remote control. With the addition of batteries (which were not available for usage at the time due to a lack of charging), the robot will be able to operate entirely without wires. These demonstrate the entire communications chain with commands being sent from a remote laptop through a wireless 802.11b network link to the robot's main computer, then to the interface controller and finally down to the individual motor controllers.

2005-09-04 :: Robo-Magellan Back On Track

After a summer apart working across the state of Washington the members of WSU Robotics have returned to complete the Robo-Magellan Project.

2005-04-10 :: Robo-Magellan Nearly Operational

The mechanical platform for Robo-Magellan is now nearly complete. The body is fully assembled, and merely awaiting steering motors and sensor mounts. The motor controller is also nearly operational as well. It has been fully assembled and needs only to be programmed. The Robo-Magellan project is currently on-track to achieve basic operational status by Monday, 2005-04-18.

2005-03-06 :: Robo-Magellan Takes Shape

The major mechanical systems for Robo-Magellan are now well underway. The frame is mostly assembled, and the suspension will be finished shortly. Additionally, the main computer has been brought online, and we are preparing to setup the robot's base control software. Electrical systems will be completed after Spring break, and the robot should achieve basic operational status shortly thereafter.

2004-12-09 :: Robo-Magellan Page Updates

The Robo-Magellan page has been updated with a variety of new information. Most importantly, the latest mechanical concept is now available for public consumption. Additionally, the motor controller project is progressing well, with two prototypes already complete and operational. Besides these things, there is a bit of conceptual overview information for most of the robot's major electrical systems.

2004-11-30 :: "Max"

Max, the successor to lobo, is now nearing mechanical completion. All of its critical components have been milled from acrylic, making for an excellent looking assembly.

2004-11-06 :: The next generation

Work on the successor to Lobo has begun. With larger servos, superior computational hardware, and precision CNC milled parts, this project will give us the opportunity to fully utilize our collective design and implementation resources.

2004-10-30 :: CNC machine operational

The CNC milling machine is now operational.

2004-10-26 :: Lobo thinks

Lobo, our 6-legged walking robot, is now capable of operating autonomously.