Humble Bundle MAKER books... 

Take a look at this Humble Bundle Maker Skills Builder Bundle
as of 9:43 PM on Wed Dec 13.. You have 13 days, 13 hours, 19 min, 21 seconds...

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/maker-skill-builders-books

Critter Bot

I Love Instructables - This would be fun to build - http://www.instructables.com/id/Critter-3D-Printed-Crawling-Arduino-Robot/

Clear Path - Cool Engineering Chalenge with a Purpose

ClearPath Indoor Robotic Guide for the Visually Challenged

Here is an "Opportunity to Learn Outside Of Class".  This NOT required, but might be fun and educational. This is an invitation to a local meetup happening in Meno Park on Dec 19.ClearPath Indoor Robotic Guide for the Visually Challenged  If you are in the Silicon Valley area Dec 19, maybe plan on going to this talk and planning session.  Extra Credit for my Mechatronics Students...

The ClearPath project's goal is to create a proof of concept robotic platform intended to guide a visually impaired person indoors. Ideally, a sensor-rich, smart environment would assist the guide robot's planning and run-time navigation while the robot guides the blind user through the building. The first project phase in this effort is to demonstrate the potential of indoor guidance for the blind.

Clear Path Meetup Dec 19 at 7:00 in Menlo Park, CA​

Meetups are local gatherings, where folks can collaborate and learn.  This is a mix of Adults and Youth, so PLEASE be aware that students will be interacting with adults they may be meeting for the first time.  It is appropriate for parents/guardians to attend these activities with their students.  This is an outside public event and an out of class activity. SVCTE is not involved in the organization or execution of this event.

Python class for a $1.00 - But do it in the next 5 days...

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Here's how it works—you can pay any price over $1 to unlock one of the ten courses, or beat the average price (currently under $21) to unlock the full bundle. This offer won't last long, so pick up the Learn to Code 2017 Bundle today.

Learn About Artificial Intelligence with AI Learning Accelerator Lectures

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Stepper Motors with Adafruit

Playing with this Adafruit motor controller shield... time to start using some Stepper motors in class.  The weekend is so short... so maybe between class on Monday... https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-motor-shield-v2-for-arduino

This is the one I'm trying to get connected.  It's a 6 wire Uni-polar we liberated from it's confines in an old printer.  Did you know, a big office printer has 3-4 nice sized Steppers, 4-6 DC motors and a whole bunch of position encoders... this is just one we pulled.

Adafruit... making a world full of Nerds one project at a time

I love Adafruit.  Adafruit is a really cool company, with a goal to make the world full of Nerds.  Check out their YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/user/adafruit?annotation_id=annotation_3906463401&feature=iv&src_vid=5kZj3DPjsQk&sub_confirmation=1

IoT Tech Expo North America 2017

Register for a Free Conference Pass

Join the IoT Tech Expo North America (https://www.iottechexpo.com/northamerica/) 2017 in Santa Clara, CA on November 29-30 which is co-located with 2 events; the Blockchain Expo and AI Expo so you can explore 3 ecosystems in 1, providing the opportunity to broaden your knowledge base and build new connections. The event will feature a free exhibition and 6 FREE developer conference tracks over the two days including a free 2 hour Bluetooth session (https://www.iottechexpo.com/northamerica/bluetooth-session/).

How can I use this Robot appendage for Halloween?

"Robotic arm inspired by the Elephant trunk", really means "How can I use this Robot appendage for Halloween? https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=Q1MBIaNuLa8

#RobotHalloween

The Gakken World Eye... What could we do with this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcG9O6S6cOU

Coding and Programming Sites on Tech-Prep - by Facebook

Tech Prep is a free web site hosted by Facebook to help you discover programming:
https://techprep.fb.com/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=advocates-teachers-2

Students, There are some good resources here.  I'm posting this as a resource.  You can do as much or little with this site as you like... but my goal is to get you to always be learning.  Have fun.

Mechatronics First Day... Your First Day is My First Day Too...

WoHooooooo... Welcome.

Today is going to be a bit crazy, but lets dive right in. Not sure what we are going to get done, but we will talk about the following:

• Who is Mr. Burnham
• What is Mechatronics is all about
• Probably work on organizing the room...
• Review your student packet <-- Sorry We did not get to that, but will tomorrow
• Maybe play a numbers game <-- Later this week
• Maybe light up an LED <-- Part way there... hope it was fun

Take a deep breath... You get to build FIRE Breathing Robots this year...

Notes From WASTC Raspberry Pi IoT workshop at Cabrillo College

Instructor: Kerry Bruce - kbruce@cnm.edu

• Email - kbruce@cnm.edu
• Twitter - @MyITInstructor
• Webpage – http://myitinstructor.com
• LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/kerryabruce
• www.facebook.com/myitinstructor
• www.facebook.com/mrbruceshackerspace
• Pinterest – Kerry Bruce – Hacker(Space) Ideas

Websites talked about in class

• My IT Instructor -
• 
  

SERVO Magazine Robot Sites

RoboFest
St. Pete Beach Community Center - St. Pete Beach, FL 

      Events include Bottle Sumo, Vcc, Game, GRAF, and UMC.

http://robofest.net 

 

University Rover Challenge 

Mars Desert Research Station, Hanksville, UT

      Student teams build rovers for an extreme desert environment.

http://urc.marssociety.org 

AUVS International Ground Robotics Competition 

Rochester, MI

      Autonomous ground robots must navigate an outdoor obstacle course within a prescribed time and speed limits.

www.igvc.org 

     
Concurso De Robótica Aguilar
Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico
     Events include Line Following, Labyrinth Solving, Mini Sumo, Cockerel, and Robot Arm Challenge. 

http://electronica-aguilar.blogspot.com

Pobot Junior Cup
Sophia-Antipolic, France

      Waste collection robot challenge.

www.pobot.org 

 

Seattle Bot Battles 

Seattle Center Armory Seattle, WA

      RC vehicle combat.

www.westernalliedrobotics.com

European Robotics Hackathon 

Sonnenweg 1, 3435 Zwentendorf an der Donau Austria

      Robot hackathon at inactive nuclear reactor site.

http://enrich.european-robotics.eu

MATE ROV Competition
Long Beach City College, Long Beach, FL

      Student underwater robot challenge.

www.marinetech.org

 Clash of the Bots 

Schiele Museum, Gastonia, NC

      Events include bot hockey and RC vehicle combat.

www.carolinacombat.com 

International Autonomous Robot Contest 

E3 Civic High School, San Diego, CA

      Autonomous robots must navigate around fixed obstacles.

http://iaroc.org 

Robotic Day 

Prague, Czech Republic

      Events include Bear Rescue, Ketchup House, Line Following, Mini Sumo, and RoboCarts.

www.roboticday.org 

 

HBRC Challenge and BotLuck Dinner 

HomeBrew Robotics Club - Mountain View, CA 

     Nothing but the best part of the meeting: All Show-and-Tell featuring RoboMagellan Trials, the Original TABLEBot Challenge, FloorBot Challenge, The A-Mazing Line Maze Challenge, Robot Dance Party, and Run-what-ya-brung. 

www.hbrobotics.org

WoHooo... We Get To Build Fire Breathing Robots

Dear Mechatronics Students of 2017-2018,

I’m Mr. Burnham, and I’m super excited about the Mechatronics class next year. I just wanted to say Hi, and point you at some sites that may help you get ready. You may have seen one of my recruiting presentations at your home high school… If you did, then you know that we are going to build FIRE Breathing Robots.

Yes, We TOTALLY are going to build stuff like this... so start planning...

Here is a link to a PDF which is a Mechatronics Overview, and gives a high level introduction to what we will be learning.

• Hands on Physics <-- this will be interleaved as part of the other modules, but will satisfy the A-G "D" Science requirement 
• AC/DC Electronic Fundamentals 
• Digital Electronic Fundamentals 
• Programing with Microcontrollers 
• Programmable Logic Devices 
• Mechanical 3D design& mechanical drawing 
• Robotic Theory and Application 
• Pneumatic Systems

Here is also the official Mechatronics course flier, which is a download (sorry, we want your name and email to see it) 

Now, everyone knows that building FIRE Breathing Robots is more fun with a friend… so go find someone else to take this Mechatronics class with you. Then have them go talk to their councilor and get signed up with you.

I'm looking forward to seeing you next year.

Mr Burnham