Indiana Tech Explorers

Back From NRC 2012

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 01:45:00 +0000

The 2012 National Robotics Challenge is over and Indiana Tech Explorers gave quite a showing! We came back with seven new plaques, three of them first places. The three gold awards were for heavyweight sumo in the high school division, mini sumo in the post secondary division and tactile maze in the post secondary division. Everyone had a great time and we look forward to next year's competition. Watch this space for our video from NRC!

Just a reminder that the next meeting is NOT next week, but the week after that. The calendar now has the correct dates on it.

Also, we have the Boy Scout Camporee coming up, and we will need lots of people if it is to be a success. Mark your calendars!

Welcome New Visitors!

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 02:00:00 +0000

For new visitors to our site: First of all, welcome! Maybe you heard about us from our table at the Maker Faire on October 1-2. This site should provide a glimpse into who we are and what we do. To begin your tour of our site, I suggest that you read a little bit about the post. Next, feel free to check out some photos of us, and of our robots. Another highlight you should be sure to hit is our highlight video from NRC 2011. Also, remember, if you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask us! Just create an account, and head over to the comments and questions category of our forums.

Of course, you can view the site at your leisure, this is simply a set of suggestions to get you started. All areas of the site are open for viewing without an account except the "Members" page (to protect member's privacy) and the "Team Discussions" categories of the forums.

If you want to get involved, please note the Upcoming Events box just to the right. We meet in Room 212 of the Zollner Engineering Center on the Indiana Tech campus every other week . We're just getting started on our year's activities, so it's not too late to get involved!

- Rex Joyner, Post Advisor -

Getting into the New Season! (September 21 Summary)

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 21:00:00 +0000

We had our second regular meeting of the school year. Two new members joined: Jacob Malott and Max Scheitlin, plus Julie Lee officially became an adult advisor.The first-year members got their Parallax BoeBot kits and Rick Brooks began to teach how to program them. Meanwhile the returning members worked on plans for the Heavyweight Sumo. Popcorn sales were discussed, and plans for the Maker Faire at Headwaters Park on October 1-2 were made.

RoboMagellan Continues! (July 27th summary)

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 01:20:00 +0000

Great progress was made Wednesday night at the RoboMagellan meeting. Not only did we get a full schematic drawn for the robot's power supply, but we also began setting up that power supply by drilling holes for the switches to turn power on to specific components, and LEDs to indicate the presence of power in those components. After a little milling, the switches were fitted.

On the software side of things, there was a demonstration of the latest build of video processing software, which was able to track cones reasonably well. After a few adjustments, it was even able to track a cone with the lights turning on and off, though there was a small delay as it adjusted to the new lighting. One option for a laptop on which to run video processing was proposed, although other options are still possible. All in all, there is still a monumental amount of work to do, but great progress is being made.

Mobile Website Launch!

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 14:15:00 +0000

To follow up the official launch of http/www.indianatechexplorers.com/, today the mobile version of our site lauches!

Before, viewing http://www.indianatechexplorers.com/ on an iphone (or similar mobile device) displayed something like the first image below.	But now, viewing our website on an iphone will display a special version of the site that is optimized for a mobile device. An photo of our new mobile site is also below.

I hope that any team members with an iphone take the oportunity to try out this mobile version of the site! Let me know what you think in the comments section!

Official Website Launch!

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 00:28:00 +0000

Today marks the launch of http://www.indianatechexplorers.com as our official domain name. By the time you read this, all site files will be fully operational on indianatechexplorers.com. Also, the home page has been redesigned into the page you are seeing now, a place not only to introduce visitors to the site, but also to post news and updates about our group. I hope that this site can continue to grow and improve on this new domain, and I look forward to continuing to add content and improve this site.