Robotics

LOCATION CHANGE ALERT: THIS WILL BE IN RESTON TOWN CENTER, NOT ONE LOUDOUN In this talk, Sean Hoar will explore the transformative journey of AI’s role in modern software engineering, from rapid prototyping (“Vibe Coding”) to strategic AI integration by skilled practitioners. It clarifies the distinctions between AI-assisted, AI-enabled, and practitioner-led approaches, offering insights into how developers can effectively adapt to and harness AI tools. The presentation also highlights recent advancements and practical strategies for leveraging AI in daily workflows and long-term development.

This meetup is for people that want to play table games: board games, strategy games, episodic RPGs, eurogames, card games and co-operative games. NOT A GAMER BUT WANT TO LEARN? We teach them all... We are open minded on all games. Games we plan to teach and play include Ascension, Azul, Azul Summer Pavillion, Splendor, Magic The Gathering, Melee/Wizard, Backgammon, Castallan, Chess Variants, Compounded, Dead of Winters: Crossroads, Dixit, Dominion, Exploding Kittens, Flux, GravWell, Ghost Stories, Hanabi, Heroquest RPG, Hive, House Divided, House on the Hill, Illuminati, Ingenious, King of Tokyo, Lost Cities, Machi Koro, Munchkin, Pandemic, Pirate Dice, Ogre/GEV, Qwirkle, Race for the Galaxy, Roll Through The Ages, Ricochet Robot, RoboRally, Settlers of Catan, Sagrada, Sentinels of the Multiverse, Splendor, Spot-It, Sushi-To-Go, Takenoko, Ticket to Ride, Tsuro, Up Front, Yahtzee, Advanced Wizards Card Game, etc.

Join us for thr DC Crypto Meetup – Taco Tuesday! Tuesday\, December 30 \| 5:30\-&;30 PM Mission Navy Yard 1221 Van St SE, Washington, DC We’ll be upstairs near the stairs ( as the host, if you can spot us). If it gets too loud, we’ll shift downstairs. I will have a small LED candle so you can spot us. Mission is the largest bar in the city, so there’s plenty of room. No formal agenda, just good conversation. See you Tuesday! Happy hour is served daily from 4 - 6 pm, Hosted by NFTve – fine artist, NFT creator, and long-time blockchain & crypto enthusiast.

This event is NOT for beginners please. If you can't make it, please try to sign out at least 5 hours before the event starts. Thank you!

Bring a friend, bring family, and bring that neighbor that you kinda know... Come one, come all for some free table tennis. Note: Because we have been playing regularly for years, members tend not to RSVP. If there are any questions, feel free to message.

Join the DC Crypto Meetup – Taco Tuesday\! Tuesday\, December 30 \| 5:30\-&;30 PM Mission Navy Yard 1221 Van St SE\, Washington\, DC\. We’ll be upstairs near the stairs \( as the host\, if you can spot us\)\. If it gets too loud\, we’ll shift downstairs\. RSVP: [https://www.meetup.com/dcblockchain/events/312720309/](https://www.meetup.com/dcblockchain/events/312720309/)

Come volunteer with us refurbishing donated bicycles so that they can be used again by the community! This event is open to both new and existing volunteers. No mechanical experience is necessary. Note: The warehouse location is in the alley behind 1502 Mt Vernon Ave. Enter through the gray door next to a roll-down garage door. If you drive to the location, be sure to park in the street, not in the alleys or parking lots surrounding the warehouse. And wear clothes you don't mind getting dirty with bicycle grease! Please be aware that volunteers under 18 need a parent or guardian to accompany them to their first volunteer experience and sign a liability waiver, while volunteers under 16 need a parent or guardian to accompany them at all times while volunteering with Vélocity.

Title: Biology-Inspired Neural Networks with Multi-Directional Propagation of Values and Distributions Date: Feb 8 2026 10:00 am - Noon EST Summary: While biological axons can propagate in both directions, current ANNs are focused on unidirectional propagation. Also usually they only propagate values, while uncertainty is shown also crucial for making decisions of biological organisms - suggesting to propagate also variance, probability distributions. I will talk about novel KAN-like approach to ANNs repairing these lack by using neurons containing inexpensive local joint distribution model as polynomial, allowing to freely change propagation direction by just switching indexes, also propagate entire probability distributions represented by vectors of moments. Beside backpropagation, it also allows many additional training approaches, like direct estimation, tensor decomposition, and through information bottleneck. Speaker: Dr Jarek Duda is an assistant professor at Jagiellonian University. He holds degrees in computer science (PhD), mathematics (MSc) and physics (PhD). He is mainly focused on physics foundations, information theory, statistical analysis, and is known for introduction of asymmetric numeral systems. Moderators: Dr. Pawel Gora, CEO of Quantum AI Foundation and Dr. Sebastian Zajac , member of QPoland Zoom registration form will be provided no later than 1 hour prior to the event's start time.

This week we are drafting Charlie's modular cube! We'll be drafting in the GWU Student Center, room G08. Contact me at 617-642-1764. Join [the discord!](https://discord.com/invite/uUK4BeUmX4)

Everyone’s prompting. Few people are judging. This talk shows how a playwright uses multiple LLMs and vibe coding to build a custom evaluation loop: a digital dramaturg that checks scenes against an outline like a living spec. If you design, build, or eval AI systems, you’ll leave with a new mental model for using LLMs as QA, not just content engines. **Featured speaker:** * [Soo-Jin Lee](https://www.linkedin.com/in/soo-jinlee/)\, Gen AI Conversation Designer \| Prompt Engineer \| LLM\, NLU\, NLP \| Human in the Loop \| Former Teacher \| Playwright **Location:** AWS Skills Center, 1550-G Crystal Dr, Arlington, VA 22202 **Drinks and Networking After:** --> Alamo Drafthouse, 1660 Crystal Dr, Arlington, VA 22202 (2nd Floor) **Description:** Join us at AI Innovators Network for our upcoming meetup in the Mosaic, which is dedicated to exploring the latest trends in Artificial Intelligence. Whether you're an AI enthusiast, a professional, or someone curious about the intersection of technology and AI, this event is perfect for networking, learning, and sharing insights. Connect with like-minded individuals from DC, Northern Virginia, and Maryland as we dive deep into the opportunities and challenges of integrating AI. Don't miss this opportunity to be part of the conversation driving innovation and progress in Artificial Intelligence.

Get checked your bucket list by visiting this fascinating destination! Start in Maun and end in Kasane! With the Safari tour Moremi reserve and Chobe NP Photographic Safari, you have a 10 days tour package taking you through Maun, Botswana and 5 other destinations in Botswana. Tour Start Maun Tour End Kasane Flights • Arrival: Day01 before 2pm • Return: Day10 after 4pm Fly IN Airport: Maun Intl. airport (Botswana) Fly OUT Airport: kasane Intl. airport (Botswana) Itinerary Day01 Maun Day02 Moremi Game Reserve Day03 Moremi Game Reserve Day04 Khwai Day05 Game drives and Mokoro excursion Day06 Chobe National Park Day07 Chobe National Park Day08 Chobe National Park Day09 Chobe National Park: game drive and cruise Day10 Chobe National Park and transfer to Kasane Cost: $3990 (Double Occupancy) $4520 (Single Supplement) Inclusions Price Includes * 2 person spacious dome tent (L3m x W3m x H2.20m) with built in groundsheet, 2 large aerating * windows with mosquito netting. * high density foam mattress, * sleeping bag and pillow. * Bucket shower facilities * A large canvas tent (7m x 5m) is used as a dining area. * Services of a professional guide, safari chef and camp assistants * Meals as per the itinerary * Tea and coffee available in camp * bottoled water is provided * Spacious and comfortable tented accommodation * High density foam matress and bedding * Services of a professional guide, safari chef and camp assistants * Utility vehicle for more than 4 pax * Game drives and local transfers in customised safari vehicles * Exclusive camping in private campsites within the national parks and reserves * All entrance and camping fees within the national parks and reserves * All meals (mineral water, tea, coffee) whilst in Travel Creations Botswana Tented Camps * All activities as specified in the itinerary * All transportation included as per the itinerary. Please mind that the tour starts in Maun and ends in Kasane Price Excludes * Flights * Meals other than mentioned in the itinerary * Personal Expenses * Optional activities * Travel insurance / Visa * Tips ———————————————— For detailed itinerary and to reserve your seat follow the link below: [https://www.bucketlistgrouptravel.com/tour/botswana-moremi-reserve-chobe-np-photographic-safari/](https://www.bucketlistgrouptravel.com/tour/botswana-moremi-reserve-chobe-np-photographic-safari/) Questions? Text / Call - 2023787696 - Himanshu - Organizer

Each week we’ll revisit the core cyberpunk classics — starting with Blade Runner (1982), then Ghost in the Shell (1995), Johnny Mnemonic (1995), Strange Days (1995), The Matrix (1999), eXistenZ (1999), and Blame! (2017).

Want to mess with some electronics? Or perhaps contribute to HacDC's main group project? HacDC's latest event brings hardware projects to the community. We will focus primarily on the main project (Space Blimp!) but please feel free to bring some of your own projects to show off and work on!

### Tools in your AI's Toolbox : An introduction to MCP Servers The generative AI revolution has unlocked unprecedented capabilities, but the next frontier is agency: empowering models to interact with, query, and act upon the world. The current challenge is the “N x M integration problem,” where every AI model requires a custom, brittle integration for each external tool or data source. This approach simply doesn’t scale. How can we give an AI access to our sales leads, code repositories, or IoT devices in a standardized, secure, and reusable way? This session introduces Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP), the open-source framework designed to solve this challenge and become the universal connector—the USB-C port—for AI. MCP standardizes how AI models discover and use external tools, moving beyond simple function-calling to a robust, client-server architecture. We will dive into how this open protocol is creating a new ecosystem for building powerful, context-aware AI agents. Join this session for a developer-focused introduction where you will learn how to: Understand the core concepts of the open-source Model Context Protocol and its architecture. Utilize pre-built, open-source MCP servers to instantly connect AI to tools like Git, Slack, and databases. Build a custom MCP server to securely expose your own proprietary data and APIs as tools for any compliant AI. Move beyond bespoke integrations and contribute to a standardized, collaborative, and open ecosystem. Stop building one-off connectors and start building intelligent agents. This session will give you the practical knowledge to leverage MCP and create the next generation of AI that doesn’t just talk, but does. Want to be a speaker? submit your talk to our Call for Presenters!!! [https://sessionize.com/azure-cbus-2026/](https://sessionize.com/azure-cbus-2026/)

OWASP is ending use of Meetup, so I built an eventbrite for the event. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ai-development-risk-case-studies-and-how-agentic-ai-is-the-future-of-appsec-tickets-1981450622150?aff=oddtdtcreator AI is transforming how software is designed, developed, and deployed, dramatically accelerating velocity while introducing new categories of risk. As organizations adopt AI-assisted coding, autonomous agents, and increasingly complex model interactions, traditional application security approaches struggle to keep pace. This talk examines emerging AI-driven risks through real case studies from the field, highlighting issues such as insecure code generation, data-leakage pathways, model manipulation, and evolving supply-chain threats. We will explore how engineering teams must adapt their people, processes, and governance models to secure AI-augmented development workflows effectively. The session will then introduce agentic AI as the next evolution in application security—autonomous systems capable of continuous analysis, multi-step reasoning, and real-time remediation. Attendees will learn how combining agentic AI with modern practices can reduce developer friction, improve coverage, and create a future-ready application security strategy designed for the demands of AI-native software development

NFT's are here to stay folks! This is a group for like minded people interested in understanding, leveraging, using, creating for, profiting from, trading too i suppose, NFT's.. everything around them, complexity, fear and exploits, best practices and more. **PLUS** This group will talk AI ART tools, techniques, artists, video, audio, prototypes and more in the AI assisted production space- ART specifically, but we can get into any aspect of some of the cooler things happening in AI in general.

**New Dojo Location!** **Draft Day Columbus** 1130 Dublin Road Columbus, OH 43215 We're going to try a new dojo location for a few weeks and see how it works Dojos are informal Python group study sessions where everyone interested in Python gathers to learn about Python, help others with Python, or just hang out. Everyone is welcome from Python beginners to experts. Bringing a laptop is encouraged (we'll have extension cords and power strips). If there's something you want to learn leave a comment on this invite so we can plan ahead. We're looking for topic suggestions and people interested in presenting at our monthly meetings. To this end we've set up a survey form at [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/15eBKF1nQQ2XS5gzD4rvhVRHMBEj7lJtHuA9wXupS3Uc](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/15eBKF1nQQ2XS5gzD4rvhVRHMBEj7lJtHuA9wXupS3Uc)

COLUMBUS RECREATION CENTERS require membership fee to play. Register & Pay at the desk when you arrive. $5 day pass is available. I have some extra pickle ball paddles and balls if you don’t have one. Definitely bring your own paddle if you have one and bring some balls if you have them. Legal Stuff: The event hosts/Organizers are just fellow member volunteers. By participating in any event, you assume all risks of liability and injury inherent in these activities. You are responsible for your own safety and for determining if you are in condition fit to participate. You are also responsible for knowing and abiding by all laws and rules during your participation in any event.
 Photos & or Video: by attending these events you acknowledge photos and or video may be taken and used on this and other platforms.

Join members of the local UX and Digital Design community for a casual monthly breakfast. There _might_ be a little snow, but there _will_ be effectively infinite serve-yourself coffee, so it evens out if you ask me. Just a reminder, while the other locations are great too, we’re at the Lane Ave one this time.

**People Analytics 101: Making Sense of Compensation Data** Compensation data is one of the most widely used and widely misunderstood forms of people analytics. The session will cover where compensation data comes from, including market pricing data, internal payroll data, and benchmarking sources, and how companies think about structuring and analyzing that information. We will explore how compensation data is leveraged to set salary ranges, manage internal equity, support hiring and retention, and align pay with business strategy. A portion of the session will address common data challenges and limitations, such as market noise, inconsistent job matching, and incomplete datasets, while keeping the primary focus on practical use rather than technical depth. The session will also look ahead at where the space is going, including the growing impact of pay transparency laws, expanding pay equity requirements, and emerging regulations in the US and Europe that require organizations to report on gender and pay gaps. The goal is to give attendees a clear mental model for how compensation analytics works today and why getting it right is becoming increasingly critical. (note: we are back at Rev1 this month!) **About Our Speaker** [Alex Moore](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexscottmoore/) is the founder of [Moore Cooperative](https://moorecooperative.com/), where he advises organizations on compensation strategy, pay equity, and people analytics. His work focuses on helping organizations like the Ohio Supreme Court design, analyze, and communicate compensation systems that are data-informed, defensible, and aligned with organizational goals. Alex lives in Granville, Ohio and has three little kiddos. More info at [cbusdaw.com](https://cbusdaw.com)