1. Home
2. Chapters
3. RAS (Robotics and Automation Society)
4. 2010 RAS Chapter Meeting Minutes

2010 RAS Chapter Meeting Minutes

Tampa Bay IEEE RAS Chapter
Minutes: 11/16/2010

Tampa Bay IEEE RAS Chapter
Minutes: 11/16/2010

IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION SOCIETY (RAS)
Location: Rusty Pelican Restaurant in Tampa, Florida
Date: November 16, 2010
Time: 6:30pm to 8:30pm

There were 8 IEEE members and 11 guests present

Jim Anderson RAS
Herman Amaya RAS
Reijo Hitunen RAS
Dave Hamilton RAS
George Schott RAS
Fred Sellers Guest
Teri Willingham Guest
Chris Willingham Guest
Doug Poston Guest
Alex Pillai Guest
Sean Denny RAS
Robert Franklin RAS
James Melton Guest
Ken Fiallos RAS
Sylvia Zell Guest
Elizabeth Vincourek Guest
Steve Willingham Guest
Shelley Keppeler Guest
JD Keppeler Guest

Chairman George Schott opened the meeting at 6:30pm. He stated the minutes of the October meeting were posted on the website. A motion was made by Bob Franklin to accept them; Seconded by Elizabeth Vincourek.

Former RAS member, Jeff Kramer, www.rec.ri.cmu.edu, moved to Pennsylvania for his new job.

Special Guest Doug Poston displayed his life-sized R2-D2 which he built. He joined a Yahoo Group Artoo Builders in 2003. Among the parts include a Spectrum 610 Radio Control, 17″ diameter dome, Car Stereos, Aluminum Frame, Stainless Steel Screws, and a wheelchair drive frame. The finished droid is about 200 pounds and had an MP3 player project R2-D2’s beeps and whistles from the STAR WARS films.

There were 8 voting members present at our November meeting where elections were held for 2011 officers. The following persons were elected to the following offices:

Chairman – George Schott
Vice-chairman – Ken Fiallos
Treasurer – Reijo Hiltunen
Secretary – Sean Denny
WEB Master – Jim Anderson
Membership Coordinator – Jim Anderson
Facilities Coordinator – Robert Franklin
Publicity Coordinator – Jim Melton
Programs Coordinator – Jim Melton
Chapter Photographer – Jim Anderson

We engaged our student guests Chris Willingham, JD Keppeler and Alex Pillai to count the ballots and report the results.

IEEE FWCS Teacher In Service Chairman Sean Denny announced the major events in education: Great American Teach-In on November 18th, Sarasota Science Fairs on January 25-27th, 2011, Pasco and Pinellas Science Fairs on February 5, 2011.

Sean invited everyone to the Tampa Bay Engineering Week Banquet at A La Carte Pavilion in Tampa on February 25th. Teachers can download the Outstanding High School Educator Lignell Forms at www.tbewb.org.

Sean showed a brief video on the IEEE participation in Teacher In Service from 2005 to the present.

Ken Fiallos talked about the Electrothon Project. There will be a race of the Electrothon Cars at Middleton High School in Tampa on December 4th. Jim Melton will be recruiting for the IEEE. Terri Willingham stated the First Tech Challenge will compete that day between 10am and 6pm. The Police Bomb Squad Robots are going to make an appearance.

Chris Willingham had technical difficulty with the Anybots presentation but described their new robot for their FIRST Tech Challenge robotics program.

Bob Franklin moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:15pm and it was seconded by Jim Anderson. The next meeting is January 11, 2011 at 6:30pm

Respectfully submitted by

Sean Denny,

Tampa Bay IEEE RAS Chapter Secretary

Tampa Bay IEEE RAS Chapter
Minutes: 10/19/2010

There were 7 IEEE members and 3 guests present

Jim Anderson    RAS
Sean Denny    RAS
David Figueroa    RAS
Robert Franklin    RAS
Reijo Hitunen    RAS
James Melton    Guest
Steve Nies    Guest
Dr. Luther Palmer    RASA
George Schott    RAS
Sylvia Zell    Guest

1) The meeting was called to order at 6:42 P.M. by Chairman George Schott

2) George asked for a volunteer to act as secretary and record the minutes of the meeting. James Melton volunteered.

3) The Chairman asked everyone to introduce them selves and say why they had come to the meeting.

4) George explained that the minutes for the September meeting were late getting posted on the FWCS RAS Chapter web page and asked everyone to review them and be prepared to approve them at our next meeting.

5) George announced that Jeff Kramer, our Programs coordinator had accepted a new job position in Pittsburg, PA and has resigned his position in our chapter.  Several members inquired for details about his new assignment and George said he would get in touch with him and report back at our next meeting.

George also talked about the chapters’ officer position and that we needed nominations and/or volunteers for these positions for the 2011 year.  Elections will be held at our November meeting and the new offices will take office at the Januarys’ meeting.

George also announced that there would not be a meeting in December

6) Our guest speaker Dr. Luther Palmer Ph.D.

He spoke to us about biped, quadruped and six legged robots and the studies he has been conducting into how the legs of the similar biological entities functions and how to best implement legged robots.  It was very detailed and interesting.

7) K. Fiallos the Vice Chair was not present to update us on the status of the Instrumentation and Telemetry of the Electrothon project.

8) Steve Nies gave us an update on the Transport Robot project

9) G. Schott did not have a report on the Techie Home project

10) New business: Sean Denny discussed the need for IEEE members to go into local schools and give motivating presentation on engineering.

11) 8:45PM Sean Denny moved that we close the meeting. Robert Franklin seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

Meeting Adjourned 8:45PM

Respectfully submitted by George Schott, Chairman

08/17/10 – Minutes of Tampa Bay RAS Chapter Mtg

Minutes: 08/17/2010

There were 11 IEEE members and 4 guests present

Hermann Amaya	RAS	Peter Grotsky	Guest
Jim Anderson	RAS	Reijo Hittunen	RAS
Glen Davis	IEEE	Andres Marquez	IEEE
Sean Denny	IEEE	Steve Nies	Guest
Carl Ekblad	RAS	Wayne Rasanen	Guest
Ken Fiallos	RAS	George Schott	RAS
David Figueroa	RAS	Sylvia Zell	Guest
Robert Franklin	RAS

Meeting called to order 6:30 PM at Rusty Pelican at 2425 North Rocky Point Drive Tampa, Florida.

Everyone introduced themselves.

• 6:45 George Schott mentioned the July minutes were distributed on line and posted on the RAS WEB site and asked for any if there were any correction.� There were none. Sean move we accept the minutes as published, Jim Anderson seconded it.� The motion was passed unanimously.

• 6:46 Ken Fiallos gave an update on the Electrathon project he is involved in. He is looking for volunteers to help 6 middle schools that want to participate in the events. He is also looking for engineering talent to assist with the development of a data capture and telemetry system that can monitor the cars electrical resources, remotely. He referred everyone to the Electrathon’s web site: http://electrathonoftampabay.org/www/

• 7:10 Dinner was served and consumed

• 7:35 Wayne Rasanen gave a description of the 10 key keyboard that he designed and patented, that can replace the conventional 101 keyboard used on PCs.

• 7:40 Sean Denny Filled us in on the Teacher In Service activities and awards process and progress. He mentioned the First Lego League kick off is on September 3 and the First Tech Challenge kick off is on September 11. The Great American Teach In will be held on November 18^th this year.

• 7:47 David Figueroa announced that there is talk about some classes in Robotics are being developed and will be presented and McDill Air Force Base. He will keep us up to date with the developments.

• 7:50 The group discussed the table arrangement for future meetings.

• 7:52 George Schott asked that everyone return their name badges and tent card when leaving so we can save money by reusing them.

• 7:53 Steve Nies gave a report on his Transport Robot project and displayed the RobotPortal web site material that has been created. Discussions related Brush verses Brushless motors was discussed as well as the logistics of traversing stairways.

• 8:30 Ken Fiallos made a motion that the RobotPortal web site allow anyone to view the web site, but only registered members be able to make entries. It was seconded Sean Denny. There was extensive discussion after which the motion was passed.

• 8:33 George Schott gave a lead in presentation regarding Muscle Wire and how it can be applied to our robotic designs.

• There was no Old business discussed

• There was no new business brought to the table.

• 8: 50 Robert Franklin moved we adjourn the meeting. It was seconded by Hermann Amaya.  The motion was passed unanimously.

Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 21 from 6:30 to 9 PM at: Rusty Pelican Restaurant
2425 North Rocky Point Drive
Tampa, Florida

Minutes recorded by: Glen Davis

07/20/10 – Minutes of RAS Chapter Mtg

06/15/10 – Minutes of TWCS Chapter Mtg

There were 9 IEEE members and 7 guests present

1. Hermann Amaya    RAS
2. Kim Jacklin    IEEE
3. Jim Anderson    Ras
4. Jeff Kramer    IEEE
5. Kathryn De Laurentis    Speaker
6. Stan Kowski    Guest
7. Sean Denny    IEEE
8. Steve Nies    Guest
9. Reggie Dunnick    Guest
10. Tom Saliga    IEEE
11. Robert Franklin    RAS
12. George Schott    RAS
13. Charlie Harrison    Guest
14. Frank Belluccia    IEEE
15. Debbie Harrison    Guest
16. Sylvia Zell    Guest

• Meeting called to order 6:30 PM at Crabby Bill’s on the Courtney Campbell Causeway.

• George Schott mentioned the May minutes were distributed on line and a motion was made and passed to accept the May 2010 minutes

• Ken Fiallos’ gave a presentation explaining the electronic control systems used to manage the power used by electric cars in the electrathon racing.

• Dr. Kathryn De Laurentis gave a very comprehensive presentation covering the design and development of robotic arm, wrist and hand prosthesis.

• George Schott showed the content of some of the links accessible from our ras.robotportal.net web site.

• There was no Old business discussed

• There was no new business brought to the table.

• The meeting adjourned at 9:15 PM.

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday July 20 starting at 6:30, but come early to socialize.
The meeting location TBD

Minutes recorded by: George Schott

04/20/10 – Minutes of TWCS Chapter Mtg

Tampa Bay RAS Chapter
Minutes: 04/20/2010

Attendees:

George Schott    Chair

Hermann Amaya    RAS Member

Terri Willingham    Guest

Chris Kujawa    Student

Chris Willingham    Student

Dina Kujawa    Student

James Anderson    RAS Member

Sean Denny    RAS Member

Peter Grotsky    RAS Member

Ethan Luster    Student

Emily Hancock    Guest

Ken Fiallos    RAS Member

Clyde Hancock    Guest

Paul Ramos    RAS Member

Elizabeth Vincourek    Guest

Alex Yu    RAS Member

Richard Sanchez    Guest

Timothy Doolittle    Guest

Meeting called to order 7:00 PM at Whiskey Joes on the Courtney Campbell Causeway.

George Schott requested everyone briefly introduce themselves to the group

George Schott mentioned the March minutes did not get distributed on line and a motion was made to accept the March 2010 minutes.

Terri Willingham introduced Team Duct Tape to the group. They are the Florida State champions of the First Tech Challenge (FTC) competition and recently returned from the World Championship held in Atlanta Georgia. Terri and her team showed us pictures and videos of the competitions, described the construction and challenges they faced in designing there robot and provided us a live demonstration. Additional information can be found at their team website – www.teamducttape.com

Hermann Amaya (RAS Chapter member) gave a presentation titled: How to Pollinate and Grow Orchids – A Preliminary Approach to Process Automation. His presentation included an overview of the germination process and how an automated process could benefit the Orchid industry.

George Schott mentioned that RAS offices are still available to be filled: Treasurer, Membership Coordinator and Publicity Coordinator. Members are being sought to fill those positions. Nominations are being accepted.

Several suggestions have been made for projects by the group and George Schott suggested that perhaps we pursue multiple projects with a Project Manager assigned to each project.

Teri Willingham mentioned that MOSI will be hosting “CoolTek” in June and we might be able to get a table to help advertise the RAS Chapter.

Please forward any and all project suggestions, concerns or comments to George Schott.

Meeting Adjourned at 8:52 PM

Next meeting scheduled for 18 May 2010 @ 6:30pm Whiskey Joe’s on the Courtney Campbell Causeway

Minutes recorded by: Paul Ramos

03/16/10 – Minutes of TWCS Chapter Mtg

Attendees:

Meeting called to order 6:30 PM at Whiskey Joes on the Courtney Campbell Causeway.

George Schott mentioned the April minutes were distributed on line and a motion was made and passed to accept the April 2010 minutes. George made a mention of the costs of membership in the IEEE organization and the RAS chapter. He also mentioned three levels of participation in RAS: IEEE RAS Member, IEEE Member and Guest. Officers of the chapter must be IEEE RAS Members. IEEE Members may propose and vote on actions brought to the chapter. Guests may only propose actions to the chapter. A motion was made and passed to accept these three levels of membership.

The planned program demonstrating an electric car has been delayed due to Ken Fiallos’ health problems with his legs. It will be rescheduled at a later date. George noted that Ken was interested in presenting the technical challenges and obtaining help to improve the power management.

George Schott suggested the chapter pursue development of the Lego Mindstorms robot project. He brought a Mindstorms robot he had constructed to demonstrate the concept. The robot is based on the LEGO Mindstorms Kit. George will investigate and report on the IEEE funding available.

Website info may be found at: http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx

Steve Niles gave a presentation of his ras.robotportal.net website and the links it had available. The website was presented as a collaborative workspace where chapter members could work on a robotic project such as the Robot Challenge project with its defined rules. To access added content to the website, a username and password is required which can be obtained from Steve Niles.

It was mentioned that the understanding of current IP law was that those who worked on the project retained ownership of the project.

In Old business, Sean Denny mentioned the free Webinar for the Robotics Summit Virtual Conference on June 16, 2010

In New Business, Herman Amaya offered to present a program on System Test Automation. George Schott agreed to take that under consideration and let Herman know when it could be done.

The meeting adjourned at 8:45 PM.

Minutes recorded by: David Figueroa

02/16/10 – Minutes of TWCS Chapter Mtg

Tampa Bay IEEE RAS Chapter

February General Meeting Minutes

Date and Time: Tuesday, February 16, 2010, 6:30pm

Location: Whiskey Joe’s 7720 W. Courtney Campbell Causeway, Tampa, FL

Attendance:

RAS: (5)

IEEE: (4)

Associate: (0)

Guests: (10)

Total: (19)

The Meeting was called to order by George Schott, RAS Chapter Chairman at 6:35pm

Items discussed and decisions made:

· George Schott made the opening statement and welcomed everyone to the first official general meeting.

· Paul Ramos read the minutes from last months meeting. Jim Anderson moved we accept the minutes as read and Dave Hamilton seconded it. There was no discussion and the motion was passed unanimously.

· Kathy Freriks (Middle High School) volunteered to host a future RAS Meeting

· George Schott discussed the Officer Positions, Duties and Levels of Membership.

· Officer Positions

o Chairman – Overseas the operation of all aspects of the chapter. Presides at all chapter meetings and events.

o Vice-Chairman – Assumes the responsibilities of the Chairman whenever the Chairman is not present or unable to perform the duties of the Chairman. Provides help and assistance to the Chairman.

o Treasurer – Collects all approved dues and fees from attendees at each event or activities. Pays for expenses that have been approved or preapproved by the Chapters Chairman and/or Vice-Chairman.

o Secretary – Records and distributes the minutes of all meetings and other activates to the chapter members. Completes and submits an IEEE L31 form for each meeting, event or activity held by the chapter. Maintain all official chapter documents.

o Web Master – Designs and maintains the chapter’s web page. Manages the connection and links to and from our chapter web page and other web sites.

o Member Coordinator – Solicits new members, manages the member database, registers members for each event and records member attendance at meetings and events.

o Facilities Coordinator – Locates and commits facilities and resources required and appropriate resources for each event.

o Publicity Coordinator – Distributes information about upcoming activities and events to all available public media, describing their location, cost and other details as appropriate for each activity or event.

o Programs Coordinator – Queries the general membership for ideas for guest speakers, demonstrations and tours. Locates and organizes speakers and organizations for events.

· Levels of Membership

o Officer – A member at this level must provide proof of current active membership in the IEEE RAS Society and be elected by the RAS members of the chapter. This level will have full voting rights and receive the largest discount on event fees.

o RAS – A member can obtain this level by providing proof of current active membership in the IEEE RAS society. This level will have full voting rights and receive the 2^nd largest discount on event fees.

o IEEE – A member can obtain this level by providing proof of the currently active membership in IEEE. This level will not have voting rights and will receive the 3^rd largest discount on event fees.

o Associate – A person that wants to regularly participate in chapter activities and receive information distributed by the chapter, but is not an IEEE member in good standing, can obtain this level by attending 4 consecutive general meetings. This level will not have voting rights and will not receive any discounts on event fees.

o Guest – a person is a guest until they have attended 4 consecutive general meetings. This level will not have voting rights and will not receive any discounts on event fees.

· Robert (Bob) Franklin volunteered to fill the position of Facilities Coordinator and the group unanimously approved.

· Jim Anderson presented the Mission Statement “LEARN, DO, TEACH” to the group and discussed how it would provide opportunities to:

o LEARN about robotics and automation

o Provide opportunities to show other what robotics and automation can DO

o TEACH members and the community about robotics and automation (share information)

· Ken Fiallos presented his interactive presentation “Using Command Line Mail Applets and a Cell Phone to Control a DIY wireless Security System” to the group.

· Ken Fiallos presented a video “ELECTROTHON” to the group

· Kathy Freriks presented a video about the FIRST Robotics group at Middleton HS

· Sean Denny presented a brief introduction about FIRST Robotics and how it makes engineering fun for students and teachers.

o USF Robotics competition Feb 27^th

o State Science Fair (MS/HS) Apr 7-9th

o Pasco County engineering Fair Apr 17^th

· George Schott asked the group to come up with ideas for the next meeting. It was suggested by Jim Anderson that we get a presentation on “what makes up a robot/sub-system” by Jeff Kramer – USF and/or “Practical Robotic Application” by Paul Ramos – IMRobotics.

· George Schott discussed with the group the idea of having a RAS Chapter Mascot. George suggested a tabletop robot or animatronics that could interact with that would around it and demonstrate all the different disciplines used in robotics. He asked the group to email him ideas that we could discuss at the next meeting.

· George Schott discussed with the group about coming up with ideas for a group/community project. He asked the group to email him ideas that we could discuss at the next meeting

· The next meeting will be held at Whiskey Joe’s 7720 w. Courtney Campbell Causeway, Tampa, FL starting at 6pm for socializing with the meeting starting promptly at 6:30pm.

· Robert Franklin made a motion to adjourn the meeting and it was seconded by Paul Ramos. All agreed.

· Meeting adjourned at 8:36pm

Respectfully submitted,

Paul Ramos, Secretary, IEEE Tampa Bay RAS Chapter

paul@imrobotics.com

01/12/10 – Minutes of the TWCS RAS Chapter Organizational Meeting

Date and time: January 12, 2010 at 7:00 p.m.

Location: Whiskey Joe’s on Courtney Campbell Causeway

Attendance:

• George Schott
• David Figueroa
• Bob Franklin
• Ken Fiallos
• Jim Anderson
• Kyle Reed

The meeting was called to order by the organizer George Schott at 7:00 p.m.

Items discussed and decisions made:

• George Schott volunteered to be Chairman and the group unanimously approved.
• Ken Fiallos volunteered to be Vice-chairman and the group unanimously approved.
• The group discussed various names for the chapter and unanimously approved the following: “Tampa Bay RAS Chapter”
• The group discussed possible meeting dates and locations and it was unanimously approved that the general meetings will be held at Whiskey Joe’s on Courtney Campbell Causeway at 6:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month.  The first general meeting will take place on Tuesday, February 16, 2010.
• After through discussion, the group unanimously approved a mission statement of L.D.T. (Learn, Do and Teach) as it pertains to Robotics and Automation.
• The group discussed various levels of membership in the Tampa Bay RAS Chapter.  These levels would govern the fees each attendee would be charges for an event and their authority to vote on business maters of the chapter.  The group approved the following levels:
  • Officer – A member at this level must provide proof of currently active membership in the IEEE RAS Society and be elected by the RAS members of the chapter. This level will receive the largest discount on event fees.  Discount amount to be determined.
  • RAS  – A member can obtain this level by providing proof of currently active membership in the IEEE RAS Society.  This level and officers are the only levels that possesses voting rights.  This level will receive the 2^nd largest discount on event fees.  Discount amount to be determined.
  • IEEE – A member can obtain this level by providing proof of their currently active membership in IEEE.  This level will receive the 3^rd largest discount on event fees.  Discount amount to be determined.  A person at this level does not have voting rights in matters of the chapter.
  • Associate – A person that wants to regularly participate in chapter activities and receive information distributed by the chapter, but is not an IEEE member in good standing, can obtain this level by attending 4 consecutive general meetings.  This level will receive the least discount on event fees and does not have voting rights in maters of the chapter.
  • Guest – A person is a guest until they have attended 4 consecutive general meetings.  This level will receive no discount on event fees and does not have voting rights in maters of the chapter.

Respectfully submitted,

George Schott, Chairman, IEEE Tampa Bay RAS Chapter