RCJA News

Independent Schools' Education Expo on the Gold Coast

RoboCup Junior volunteers staffed a large stand at the recent Independent Schools' Education Expo on the Gold Coast, where we explained RCJ to a good share of the 1,000 to 2,000 visitors that passed through the doors. One of the fun activities was to grab spectators and put them in front of a computer and robot to show them how easily and quickly they could have a robot performing to their instructions! Most were apprehensive to start with but quickly settled in, and some had to be asked to leave so we could run the next session! Probably the most commonly heard words from those involved were "cool!," "awesome" and "sick!" Hopefully as a result of our time RCJ in the Gold Coast region should really kick on!

A big thank you to the teachers and students from Southport Secondary College who provided our capable demonstrators' for the two days, and to AB Patterson College for the loan of RCJ equipment. Speaking of which, I'd also like to give a BIG plug for the wonderful staff at a company called Blue Shadow Group in Molendinar, who kindly lent us some exhibition equipment when our arrangements fell through: thanks heaps - very much appreciated!

The venue for the expo was the Gold Coast Convention and Entertainment Centre at Broadbeach, which just happens to be the venue for our Australian Open this year (see other article). What a place! You could play real soccer under the roof there is so much space! Queensland Chairman Damien Kee and his committee are planning a fantastic event with all competition, work areas, interview and spectators in the one arena, which will keep things moving and very entertaining! The venue is literally across the road from an impressive shopping centre, with another HUGE one 500m down the road, and the magnificent surf beach 200m behind those. There are hotels, apartments and motels all through the area, so it's a dream for our purposes - see you there!

DON'T FORGET!!! If you are in the Western Sydney region, RoboCup Junior is a key feature at the Education Expo held at the magnificent Rosehill Racecourse Event centre on 23rd and 24th June. A flyer should be in your schools by now or very shortly with some details, but we want to see a mass of keen RCJ-ers on site for the two days: we will have training, workshops, information sessions, questions answered, equipment available for use as well as a 'friendly games' tournament each day - you'll be able to have your first 'under competition conditions' run on the new Rescue challenge so you can get the jump on other teams! And the best part of all this? It's free!!!!! Free parking, free entry, free use of equipment, AND we're providing awards as well! If you've never had a go at RoboCup before, this is the IDEAL opportunity, but if you are already a RCJ competitor, come along and sharpen your skills and develop your robot with the help of some very experienced people. Keep the date free!

Ian Maud,
Chairman, RoboCup Junior (Aust),
Science & Technology Teacher,
St Paul's AGS, Warragul, VIC.
0356 235833

New Victim for Rescue Premier Rules

The Old Victim

The following items of the Rescue Premier rules has been amended:

3. Victim

   3.1 The Victim
      3.1.1 The victim is a Cadbury Yowie™.

The New Victim

The change to the rules only affects Item 3.1.1. The victim described in Item 3.1.1 of the current rules will be replaced by a standard 375ml aluminium can with no markings or a standard 375ml aluminium can wrapped in aluminium foil or aluminium foil tape. The can will contain material such as rice weighing 40gms. A liquid should not be used to add weigh to the can.

This last minute change has been necessary as Cadbury are no longer producing Yowies and stocks in the stores are in very short supply.

How to Build the New Victim

Below is a short procedure on how to build the replacement victim.

Step 1. Take an empty 375ml aluminium soft drink can. Step 2. Get a strip of aluminium foil cut to the same height as an aluminium can ( approx 13cm x 30cm ). Step 3. Tape the edge of the aluminium foil to the side of the can kepping the edge of the foil perpendicular to the base of the can. Make sure there is about 5mm clearance between the base of the can and the long edge of the foil so that the can will be able to sit on its base.
Step 4. Wrap the aluminium foil around the can ensuring that the foil stays flat. Step 5. Using a clear tape (the tape lines are marked in black above for clarity), tape the foil to the can first down the side, then around the top and bottom of the can.
Step 6. Measure out 40 gms of something inert and non toxic such as rice. Step 7. Pour the rice into the prepared can. If you are worried about the contents of the can being spilled out you can place a piece of tape over the mouth of the can. Finished. The victim is now ready to be rescued.

The RoboBall FlyEye Sensor manufactured by Wiltronic

The RoboBall FlyEye Sensor has been designed to be used with pre-programmed robots competing in the RoboCup Junior competitions. The RoboBall FlyEye Sensor was born out of practical experience with the most common and frustrating problem encountered in constructing a soccer robot - reliably finding the ball!

Features of the RoboBall FlyEye Sensor:

The RoboBall FlyEye Sensor may be simply connected to your standard RCX 2 wire interface (for LEGO MINDSTORM etc.) with no modifications. All you need a LEGO extension lead that has been cut to a desired length and then separated and stripped 3 - 5mm. Heat shrink tubing 10mm in length is slid over the separate Red and Black RoboBall FlyEye wires, before the wires are soldered onto the LEGO extension lead. The heat shrink is slid back over the joints and carefully heated to insulate the terminations. Now the LEGO block can be plugged onto the appropriate RCX input.

There are seven photodiodes on the underside of the RoboBall FlyEye and these look in different directions. A microcontroller, built into the RoboBall FlyEye, compares the light intensity seen by each of the seven photodiodes and picks the brightest one. The RoboBall FlyEye can send 16 different voltage levels to your robot. On an RCX port in 'raw' mode these correspond roughly to values starting at 250 and increasing in steps of 45, i.e. 250, 295, 340, 385, 430, 475, 520, 565, 610, 655, 700, 745, 790, 835, 880 & 925


The RoboBall FlyEye Sensor retails for $65 (inc GST) and is available from Wiltronic


RoboBall FlyEye Sensor Design & Specifications:
Copyright ©Wiltronics Research Pty Ltd & IME Consulting Solutions Pty Ltd 2005
Australian Innovation Patent No.2005100750

RoboBall is a Trademark of Wiltronics Research Pty Ltd

LEGO, LEGO MINDSTORM, & RCX are Registered Trade Marks & Trade Marks of the LEGO GROUP OF COMPANIES

Robolab is a registered Trade Mark of Tufts University

ROBOCUP JUNIOR is a Registered name of the ROBOCUP FEDERATION