Main Page
From OttawaRobotics
Contents |
Who We Are
The Ottawa Robotics Enthusiasts (ORE) club is a informal group of hobby roboticists in Canada's national capital region. We get together at least once a month to show off our creations, share information, and work together on more ambitious projects. Official meetings are held on the second monday of every month and informal get-togethers happen periodically. We've also got a pretty active mailing list that is used to exchange information, hint and tips, as well as keep everyone informed of upcoming meetings and other functions in Ottawa that might be of interest to the group.
We take the informal aspect of our group seriously. There are no fees for membership, formal member lists, or club executive. All that it takes to be a member is to join up on the mailing list or come out to a meeting. We've got members of all ages and skill levels with an interest in robots and technology tying us all together. Don't be shy, come out to a meeting!
Robot Games
The O.R.E. club has partnered with the Canadian National Robot Games to hold a regional robot competition here in Ottawa. The robot games were held on June 11th, 2011 at Arts Court, 2 Daly Avenue, Ottawa. The robot games were a subset of the CNRG event, with a focus on line following, maze solving and minisumo. You can find out more about the event on the Canadian National Robot Games website as well on the Canadian National Robot Games Ottawa Regional wiki page.
In order to kickstart the event, we put together several low-cost robot platforms which would be able to compete in the games, as well as be great platforms for people after the games to learn from and hopefully compete with at the CNRG in November 2011. There are three designs in progress.
Congratulations to all the winners and a huge thanks to our sponsors, volunteers, competitors and spectators! We are gearing up for a small competition again in October as a warm-up for the CNRG Toronto games in November and will be hosting the Ottawa games again in 2012!
Line Follower and Maze Solver
The Line Follower designs are a competitive line follower/maze solver design which has 8 line sensors at the front and can travel at speeds up to 1m/s. There are several varieties, ranging from raw PIC processor power supported by a C compiler (Microchip C18) or basic compiler (Amicus18) to a PICAXE 28X2 as well as an Arduino compatible variant based on the AtMega328. They come with example code and software libraries in order to get started as easily as possible. This is a fully assembled robot, with electronics, wheels and battery ready to go.
Minisumo Robot Controllers
The SumoORE Robot Controller is a combination PCB/Chassis in development which supports both minisumo and line following/maze solving. It is designed around 2 servos as the motors and has integrated rechargeable LiFEPO4 batteries. This is a fully assembled robot, with electronics, wheels and battery ready to go.
The MiniORE3 Robot Controller is designed to support either line followers or minisumo designs. It also comes in two varieties, PICAXE or bare PIC processor. This is a great platform for general robots or just as a general controller, beyond the June robot games.
Larger Sumo Controller
The 3KG Sumo Controller is designed for larger scale robots as well as high-current minisumo. Originally we had intended to have a 3KG event at the games, but have decided to focus on the minisumo instead. If you are planning to run a minisumo with power hungry motors, this design will be able to handle it.