Boise Robotics Group
Where resistance is usually 1k
Sunday, May 19, 2013
BoRG Meeting for 18 May, 2013
Sunday, April 21, 2013
The BoRG Volunteers at the Idaho Space Grant’s Mars Rover Challenge
Here’s what the competition looked like from the bleachers
Students driving their rover around the simulated Mars terrain in search of rocks to collect
The rover display by the Mars Marauders
Sunday, March 17, 2013
March BoRG Meeting
At the Show and Tell James told the group about his 32-bit ARM processor board
He also introduced the group to the Raspberry Pi,an educational computer science product developed in the UK. As James informed the group, the Raspberry Pi is single board computer (SBC) and not a microcontroller. It can run applications written in Python, so it is a substantial step up from microcontrollers like the PICAXE.
Ed brought a Propeller board by Parallax and asked quizzed the group about their knowledge of this product. As we learned, the Propeller has seven microcontrollers and that gives it the ability to run seven processes simultaneously.
March’s meeting took place during Boise Code Camp and two of us spend time at both events. The meeting was also a general construction meeting and several robots neared closer to completion.
Here’s Rhett soldering the finishing touches to the CheapBot-14 robot controller. Rhett finished the robot controller before the end of the meeting and had time to write his first program.
Additional roboticists hard at work. A SumoBot was under construction here.
The April meeting will take place at HobbyTown on the 20th. However, two members plan to help judge a robotics competition at CSI in Twin Falls.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Boise Code Camp
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Learn to Make a Robot Class

The Boise Robotics Group in conjunction with local amateur radio operators is preparing to teach eight families how to make a robot from the ground up. The class will be taught through the Community Education program in the Boise School district.
Each family registered for the class will receive a complete robot kit. The kit contains everything needed to assemble the robot in the kit. This includes tools like wire cutters, soldering iron, pliers, Phillips screwdriver, work surface, safety glasses, software and drivers, and a USB to serial adapter. The only items students will need to bring are a laptop for programming and “AAA” batteries for robot power.
The robot built in the class is a CheapBot-14 and a line following sensor. The robot requires each family to solder the robot controller (its brain), assemble the robot body, solder the line follower sensor, and program the robot’s behavior.
The class will meet two days per week for four weeks. Instructors and mentors will together teach families basic electronics, soldering skills, and programming. At the end of the class, robots will be ready to compete in a line following competition. It is the hope of the Boise Robotics Group that families will then be ready to expand their robotics knowledge and expand the basic capabilities of their robot. If classes like this demonstrate success, they could be expanded across Idaho.
This class is made possible by the generous donations of the following people and organizations.
- The BoRG
- Disaster Guy
- Mensa
- NearSys LLC
- Sawtooth Design
- The Voice of Idaho
Donations by these organizations are offsetting the cost of the kits through sponsorships. To date, these donations have lowered the cost for the robot kits to $50 for each family. If you would like to sponsor a robot kit, please contact L. Paul Verhage.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Feburary Meeting
The next meeting is March 16th.
Get Assimilated by the BoRG (Boise Robotics Group)
The BoRG is here to do the following.
- Assist with robotic projects
- Teach how to program microcontrollers
- Teach skills in soldering and testing printed circuit boards
- Find a robotics kit
The BoRG website is boiseroboticsgroup.org
The BoRG email group is located on Yahoo Groups at Bo_RG