Open Hardware Meetup

This month we thought it would be fun to attend one of the First Robotics Competitions being held at K-Days. We plan to meet on the final day of the competition. We picked a meeting time that falls within the qualification matches, and blocked out a long period of time for the meetup, but you wouldn't have to attend for the entire time if you don't want to. Attendees will need to purchase a ticket for entry into the K-Days grounds, either online, or at the entry gate: https://www.k-days.com/tickets.

Here is the description of the events as detailed by Chris, one of our members who is a mentor for one of the teams:

FIRST is hosting three events at K-Days this year.
- First Robotics Competition (FRC) from July 18th-20th.
- First Lego League (FLL) from 23rd-24th.
- First Tech Challenge (FTC) from July 25th-27th.
K-Days website https://www.k-days.com/see-do/first-robotics-competition has a general overview of First Robotics at K-Days. There is also First Alberta's website https://kdays.firstalberta.ca/. It has more information like the dates and the event schedule.

FRC has the largest bots built by high school students playing on the largest field. This is an off-season event but is played in the same style as a regional competition. Matches will be generally running from 1pm-8pm. On the first day (July 18th), these are practice matches while the matches on the 19th and 20th are qualification and finals. I would say either the 19th or 20th would be the best days here, though the practice matches are nothing to shrug off either. A video introducing this year's FRC challenge can be found https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWbxcjlY9JY.

FLL has the smallest bots built with Lego by students aged 9-14 playing on a smaller field. This is an off-season event but is played in the same style as a regional competition. Matches will be generally running from 12pm-8pm. Either day should be a good day to check out these bots. A video introducing this year's FLL challenge can be found https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5u-2q_K3O0.

FTC has medium sized bots built by students in grades 7-12 playing on a medium sized field. This is a "Premier Event", meaning teams were invited based on their performance at their regional championship, so I expect most of the bots playing here to be pretty exceptional at their tasks. Matches will be generally running 12-8pm. On the first day (July 25th), they start late, 3:30pm, and are practice matches so the 26th or 27th might be the better days to check out these bots, though again the practice matches are nothing to shrug off either. A video introducing this year's FTC challenge can be found https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewlDPvRK4U4.

Generally, I think the FRC bots are the most impressive, so if I had to pick just one of these competitions to see I would recommend FRC on either the 19th or 20th. But the others certainly worth checking out if you have the time or happen to be there on the days they are around.

What is Open Hardware?

The Open Hardware Meetup is a place where all kinds of people can share an interest in the intersection of hardware, software, connectivity, and user experience. When combined, these elements create a new art which blends the lines of beauty and technology.

Even as computing devices have become more powerful, the underlying technology is now more and more available for everyone. With a few mouse clicks, overnight shipping, and a few hours work, you can build your own versions of ground-breaking products based on simple open platforms like Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Beaglebone, Galileo, Edison, and more. Even better, you can create something that has not physically existed. It is the flexibility and power of computing, expressed in physical, tangible form.

Who is it for?
Everyone is welcome, from casual observers to nascent hobbyists to advanced techs. Presentations will range from beginner how tos, to highlighting cool projects from Edmonton and Alberta. There is almost always food before and drinks after. We’re always open to new speakers and topics as requested by our members.

Examples of things we’ve done
-learn to solder,
-basics of arduino,
-automated basketball robots from a local high school team
-projected surfaces and their use in theatre set design,
-magnetic computer displays for the visually impaired

Examples of things we want to do
-lighting, home automation, wearables, drones/navigation, 3D printing, arduino, raspberry Pi, beaglebone and other open hardware platforms.
-workshops,
-build days, similar to hackathon, where a group of people with varying skills create and finish projects
-specialty sub-clusters where people can specialize in wearables, lighting and home automation, maker technology, and drones

We welcome you to Open Hardware Meetup and together we’ll create wow.