First, a big thanks to everyone that responded to the survey and helped pick our main project target . Santa knows who you are. And to those who didn't respond ...well, he's got that list too. There were fifteen responses in all, which is a strong representation of opinions. Again, I didn't vote. So without further delay, here's what you thought:
Candidate Project:
 | Explorer/Mapmaker | 24 points |
| r Retriever | 18 points |
| Material Transporter | 15 points |
| Self Driven Car | 13 points |
| Garbage Collector | 12 points |
| Heavy load Stair Climber | 5 points |
| Rigid-incline Scaler | 2 points |
| Homework Delivery Device | 1 point |
Yup, that adds up. There you have it. So the Explorer/Mapmaker it is! The EMM showed up in eleven of the fifteen lists, so it seems like a good choice.
NEXT STEP(S)
What's next?
1. Develop a MISSION statement for the Explorer/Mapmaker. Remember,
this is a long-term voyage, one that expects to see crew changes every
now and then. So we have to define where we want to go, so that
everyone knows the goal(s) both now and in the future. It also is
intended to be an exercise in engineering rather than just a robot
hackers club. Perhaps the five members that chose the EMM as their top
project candidate can get together with each other and lay down the
mission statement for the project. That would be:
a) Rajesh Nandakumar
b) Matthew Chandler
c) Eric Gaudet
d) Alexandre Boulanger
e) James Stark
Certainly anyone else can join in and shape the mission statement, too, if they like. I'm just suggesting a starting point.
2. We also need to do some research on ship building, so to speak. We need specialists who will help to gather and summarize the technologies involved in making robots. As it stands now two members have volunteered to conduct technology surveys:
a) Kris Nichols has offered to cover genetic algorithms for us, and b) Rob Bulson would like to take on the sensors survey.
To help kick things off I will submit a piece on neural networks that I wrote up but we will still need someone to give that topic broader coverage (...sorry Kris, I thought about this a little more and realized that my paper won't be enough to survey that field).
So what else needs coverage? Well that brings me to the next item...
WE HAVE A NEW WEB SITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes we do. Yes we do. After a lot of hard work our very own Mathees has crafted a fine web site through which all of us can keep in touch with each other and find out the status of the project's many parts from anywhere at anytime. At the moment it resides under Mat's own account on 'general' which you will find at:
http://www.uoguelph.ca/~mtharmal/robotics/index.html
Go there. Take up a task. Start a task. Bring up an issue. Address an issue. Suggest a direction. Learn something there. Teach something to someone else there. Tell us about yourself. Drop by often. We will try to keep it updated week by week so that it accurately reflects everyone's views. I mean we'd like to see this project take on a life of it's own more through "bottom-up" involvement than through "top-down" arm-twisting ** if we can**. Think of it as the project's clearing house. Mat is highly responsive and excellent to work with so let him know what you want to see posted there.
VIEWER MAIL
About the project's name:
Colin Peart wrote:
For the name, I don't think we should choose one until the type of
vehicle is chosen, as a more fitting one may be obvious after
we decide more exactly where we are going.
Criterion for a new name:
1. Spiffy acronym
2. Easy to pronounce
ANy others???
Jeff Bassett wrote:
How about Ratbert?
Dr. Basir wrote:
A minor correction to the proposed name: Guelph
Autonomous Robot (not research) Vehicle (GARV).
About manufacturing,
Raj Nandakumar wrote:
Hey Chris, I am currently working for a large machinery shop in Kitchener called RMS Corporation, I can get quotes for any part that need to be built and probably at a lower cost since i am an employee.
About money:
Rob Bulson wrote:
I think that I wouldn't mind helping out in the money department. But for this we should form a little committee of a few people 2-3 and come up with an approach and maybe find out what the best way are to approach companies etc. for money.