Robots anyone?
-
Hey all :) Question for the masses from us robot geeks to the code geeks ;P We are from Trossen Robotics, an online community and store for hobby and research robotics. We have looked into donating robots in the past to the Code Project prize pools. We figured (A) What a great place to advertise to! Millions of techy geeks hang out there, wow. (B) Tech geeks should love robots right? After all, you have to program your robot to make it do stuff. So we wanted to ask straight up. Do you think that the Code Project crowd would dig winning robots in the monthly article contests? Is it an audience match or are we in the wrong sandbox? You are probably thinking, well, what KIND of robots??? Fair enough... Here are some cool projects that come out of our community, scroll down to see past winners. http://www.trossenrobotics.com/contest.aspx The bioloid kits are a good example for prizes. Here is our latest in house project Paintball Robot Turret. Oh, and we do some RFID stuff too, like this kind of kit that has Windows 7 login. Maybe this is something most coders would enjoy? RFID Experimenters Kit Lastly, here is a video our intern did about Robot Pioneers. So anyhow, just curious of everyone's thoughts. Cheers, Matt
Count me in! My son (nearly 10) and I (the wrong side of 40) have been talking about starting to do some robotics as something we can do together :)
Dave
If this helped, please vote & accept answer!
Binging is like googling, it just feels dirtier. Please take your VB.NET out of our nice case sensitive forum.(Pete O'Hanlon)
BTW, in software, hope and pray is not a viable strategy. (Luc Pattyn) -
Count me in! My son (nearly 10) and I (the wrong side of 40) have been talking about starting to do some robotics as something we can do together :)
Dave
If this helped, please vote & accept answer!
Binging is like googling, it just feels dirtier. Please take your VB.NET out of our nice case sensitive forum.(Pete O'Hanlon)
BTW, in software, hope and pray is not a viable strategy. (Luc Pattyn)We were thinking big robots, but yeah, we have lots of kits that would be great for parent child projects. I hadn't even thought about that. Thanks for the reply!
-
Hey all :) Question for the masses from us robot geeks to the code geeks ;P We are from Trossen Robotics, an online community and store for hobby and research robotics. We have looked into donating robots in the past to the Code Project prize pools. We figured (A) What a great place to advertise to! Millions of techy geeks hang out there, wow. (B) Tech geeks should love robots right? After all, you have to program your robot to make it do stuff. So we wanted to ask straight up. Do you think that the Code Project crowd would dig winning robots in the monthly article contests? Is it an audience match or are we in the wrong sandbox? You are probably thinking, well, what KIND of robots??? Fair enough... Here are some cool projects that come out of our community, scroll down to see past winners. http://www.trossenrobotics.com/contest.aspx The bioloid kits are a good example for prizes. Here is our latest in house project Paintball Robot Turret. Oh, and we do some RFID stuff too, like this kind of kit that has Windows 7 login. Maybe this is something most coders would enjoy? RFID Experimenters Kit Lastly, here is a video our intern did about Robot Pioneers. So anyhow, just curious of everyone's thoughts. Cheers, Matt
Wow, I saw your company mentioned on a link from either New Scientist or the BBC (I think, I can't remember exactly) yesterday.
Robot Geek wrote:
Tech geeks should love robots right?
Naturally.
Robot Geek wrote:
Do you think that the Code Project crowd would dig winning robots i
I dare say so ;)
ragnaroknrol The Internet is For Porn[^]
Pete o'Hanlon: If it wasn't insulting tools, I'd say you were dumber than a bag of spanners. -
Wow, I saw your company mentioned on a link from either New Scientist or the BBC (I think, I can't remember exactly) yesterday.
Robot Geek wrote:
Tech geeks should love robots right?
Naturally.
Robot Geek wrote:
Do you think that the Code Project crowd would dig winning robots i
I dare say so ;)
ragnaroknrol The Internet is For Porn[^]
Pete o'Hanlon: If it wasn't insulting tools, I'd say you were dumber than a bag of spanners.>>>Wow, I saw your company mentioned on a link from either New Scientist or the BBC (I think, I can't remember exactly) yesterday. Hey now! You can't dangle that and not give up the goods, lol. Maybe it was the Robot Pioneers video. That one is making the rounds. Just wait until we put out our 3 foot wide crawlers later this year. That should go far and wide :P
-
Hey all :) Question for the masses from us robot geeks to the code geeks ;P We are from Trossen Robotics, an online community and store for hobby and research robotics. We have looked into donating robots in the past to the Code Project prize pools. We figured (A) What a great place to advertise to! Millions of techy geeks hang out there, wow. (B) Tech geeks should love robots right? After all, you have to program your robot to make it do stuff. So we wanted to ask straight up. Do you think that the Code Project crowd would dig winning robots in the monthly article contests? Is it an audience match or are we in the wrong sandbox? You are probably thinking, well, what KIND of robots??? Fair enough... Here are some cool projects that come out of our community, scroll down to see past winners. http://www.trossenrobotics.com/contest.aspx The bioloid kits are a good example for prizes. Here is our latest in house project Paintball Robot Turret. Oh, and we do some RFID stuff too, like this kind of kit that has Windows 7 login. Maybe this is something most coders would enjoy? RFID Experimenters Kit Lastly, here is a video our intern did about Robot Pioneers. So anyhow, just curious of everyone's thoughts. Cheers, Matt
Can you make one of the contests on real-time 3D integration of GIS material... I think there are only two or three of us here doing that, so I have more of a chance. :-D :-D
_________________________ John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." Shhhhh.... I am not really here. I am a figment of your imagination.... I am still in my cave so this must be an illusion....
-
>>>Wow, I saw your company mentioned on a link from either New Scientist or the BBC (I think, I can't remember exactly) yesterday. Hey now! You can't dangle that and not give up the goods, lol. Maybe it was the Robot Pioneers video. That one is making the rounds. Just wait until we put out our 3 foot wide crawlers later this year. That should go far and wide :P
Robot Geek wrote:
Robot Pioneers
Yes that was it.
ragnaroknrol The Internet is For Porn[^]
Pete o'Hanlon: If it wasn't insulting tools, I'd say you were dumber than a bag of spanners. -
Hey all :) Question for the masses from us robot geeks to the code geeks ;P We are from Trossen Robotics, an online community and store for hobby and research robotics. We have looked into donating robots in the past to the Code Project prize pools. We figured (A) What a great place to advertise to! Millions of techy geeks hang out there, wow. (B) Tech geeks should love robots right? After all, you have to program your robot to make it do stuff. So we wanted to ask straight up. Do you think that the Code Project crowd would dig winning robots in the monthly article contests? Is it an audience match or are we in the wrong sandbox? You are probably thinking, well, what KIND of robots??? Fair enough... Here are some cool projects that come out of our community, scroll down to see past winners. http://www.trossenrobotics.com/contest.aspx The bioloid kits are a good example for prizes. Here is our latest in house project Paintball Robot Turret. Oh, and we do some RFID stuff too, like this kind of kit that has Windows 7 login. Maybe this is something most coders would enjoy? RFID Experimenters Kit Lastly, here is a video our intern did about Robot Pioneers. So anyhow, just curious of everyone's thoughts. Cheers, Matt
-
Hey all :) Question for the masses from us robot geeks to the code geeks ;P We are from Trossen Robotics, an online community and store for hobby and research robotics. We have looked into donating robots in the past to the Code Project prize pools. We figured (A) What a great place to advertise to! Millions of techy geeks hang out there, wow. (B) Tech geeks should love robots right? After all, you have to program your robot to make it do stuff. So we wanted to ask straight up. Do you think that the Code Project crowd would dig winning robots in the monthly article contests? Is it an audience match or are we in the wrong sandbox? You are probably thinking, well, what KIND of robots??? Fair enough... Here are some cool projects that come out of our community, scroll down to see past winners. http://www.trossenrobotics.com/contest.aspx The bioloid kits are a good example for prizes. Here is our latest in house project Paintball Robot Turret. Oh, and we do some RFID stuff too, like this kind of kit that has Windows 7 login. Maybe this is something most coders would enjoy? RFID Experimenters Kit Lastly, here is a video our intern did about Robot Pioneers. So anyhow, just curious of everyone's thoughts. Cheers, Matt
Robot Geek wrote:
Do you think that the Code Project crowd would dig winning robots in the monthly article contests?
Certainly. Articles about making an LED blink on a parallel port get rave votings. Imagine that! A blinking LED - as if we hadn't enough of these yet! I've written the low level interfaces to various custom-built hardware myself, and I still get a very unique kick out of the first successful command that has an effect "in the real world", outside the box. Virtually all our interns enjoy getting some motor to spin, some axis to move... the more hotwired, the more crude, the less encapsulated the better. With the diversity of windows development toolsa lot of the prices are rather "meh" to a lot of developers. As great as a toolkit for shiny round in WPF might be, you won't really benefit of it if you do native of WinForms or whatever. Robots, OTOH... they work for everyone.
Make sure you can award the prize everywhere in the world. "US and Canada only" isn't "international". If you can't export to some countries for one reason or another, consider a "consolation prize" that's twice as big and thrice as cool as you think a robot would be. You might want one of your guys to write a codeproject-style introductory article. (before publishing, check with Chris or one of the editors that it isn't too advertisy - that could give you a nasty backlash). But probably you can also just sit back and wait for one of the prize winners to do that :) Good luck with your CP adventures! I hope - and see a very good chance - that it works out for both sides.
Agh! Reality! My Archnemesis![^]
| FoldWithUs! | sighist | WhoIncludes - Analyzing C++ include file hierarchy -
Hey all :) Question for the masses from us robot geeks to the code geeks ;P We are from Trossen Robotics, an online community and store for hobby and research robotics. We have looked into donating robots in the past to the Code Project prize pools. We figured (A) What a great place to advertise to! Millions of techy geeks hang out there, wow. (B) Tech geeks should love robots right? After all, you have to program your robot to make it do stuff. So we wanted to ask straight up. Do you think that the Code Project crowd would dig winning robots in the monthly article contests? Is it an audience match or are we in the wrong sandbox? You are probably thinking, well, what KIND of robots??? Fair enough... Here are some cool projects that come out of our community, scroll down to see past winners. http://www.trossenrobotics.com/contest.aspx The bioloid kits are a good example for prizes. Here is our latest in house project Paintball Robot Turret. Oh, and we do some RFID stuff too, like this kind of kit that has Windows 7 login. Maybe this is something most coders would enjoy? RFID Experimenters Kit Lastly, here is a video our intern did about Robot Pioneers. So anyhow, just curious of everyone's thoughts. Cheers, Matt
Great idea! Can't wait to read the articles that will result from this. Will you also expose to us some of the interfaces to your motion builder, etc., so that we can attempt to "improve" or modify or attempt to build our own motion builder/robot motion teaching tools? Thanks, in advance if you decide to proceed with this idea!:thumbsup:
-
Robot Geek wrote:
Do you think that the Code Project crowd would dig winning robots in the monthly article contests?
Certainly. Articles about making an LED blink on a parallel port get rave votings. Imagine that! A blinking LED - as if we hadn't enough of these yet! I've written the low level interfaces to various custom-built hardware myself, and I still get a very unique kick out of the first successful command that has an effect "in the real world", outside the box. Virtually all our interns enjoy getting some motor to spin, some axis to move... the more hotwired, the more crude, the less encapsulated the better. With the diversity of windows development toolsa lot of the prices are rather "meh" to a lot of developers. As great as a toolkit for shiny round in WPF might be, you won't really benefit of it if you do native of WinForms or whatever. Robots, OTOH... they work for everyone.
Make sure you can award the prize everywhere in the world. "US and Canada only" isn't "international". If you can't export to some countries for one reason or another, consider a "consolation prize" that's twice as big and thrice as cool as you think a robot would be. You might want one of your guys to write a codeproject-style introductory article. (before publishing, check with Chris or one of the editors that it isn't too advertisy - that could give you a nasty backlash). But probably you can also just sit back and wait for one of the prize winners to do that :) Good luck with your CP adventures! I hope - and see a very good chance - that it works out for both sides.
Agh! Reality! My Archnemesis![^]
| FoldWithUs! | sighist | WhoIncludes - Analyzing C++ include file hierarchypeterchen wrote:
Make sure you can award the prize everywhere in the world. "US and Canada only" isn't "international". If you can't export to some countries for one reason or another, consider a "consolation prize" that's twice as big and thrice as cool as you think a robot would be.
I would like to second this. As a South African we often get "offers" via email which we cannot take up because they are only available to US and Canadian residents. I understand that as far as Americans are concerned , that IS the whole world, but it would be nice to win a cool robot prize. I might actually get down and write an article if I could win a Bioloid Comprehensive Kit! ;P
Colours are vastly improved when viewed through my 23" LCD. Real world, hah! Who needs it?
-
Hey all :) Question for the masses from us robot geeks to the code geeks ;P We are from Trossen Robotics, an online community and store for hobby and research robotics. We have looked into donating robots in the past to the Code Project prize pools. We figured (A) What a great place to advertise to! Millions of techy geeks hang out there, wow. (B) Tech geeks should love robots right? After all, you have to program your robot to make it do stuff. So we wanted to ask straight up. Do you think that the Code Project crowd would dig winning robots in the monthly article contests? Is it an audience match or are we in the wrong sandbox? You are probably thinking, well, what KIND of robots??? Fair enough... Here are some cool projects that come out of our community, scroll down to see past winners. http://www.trossenrobotics.com/contest.aspx The bioloid kits are a good example for prizes. Here is our latest in house project Paintball Robot Turret. Oh, and we do some RFID stuff too, like this kind of kit that has Windows 7 login. Maybe this is something most coders would enjoy? RFID Experimenters Kit Lastly, here is a video our intern did about Robot Pioneers. So anyhow, just curious of everyone's thoughts. Cheers, Matt
It sounds like a great idea, Matt! :-D I'm sure quite a few members will be motivated to compete for such prizes, so be sure to suggest this to Chris!
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
-
peterchen wrote:
Make sure you can award the prize everywhere in the world. "US and Canada only" isn't "international". If you can't export to some countries for one reason or another, consider a "consolation prize" that's twice as big and thrice as cool as you think a robot would be.
I would like to second this. As a South African we often get "offers" via email which we cannot take up because they are only available to US and Canadian residents. I understand that as far as Americans are concerned , that IS the whole world, but it would be nice to win a cool robot prize. I might actually get down and write an article if I could win a Bioloid Comprehensive Kit! ;P
Colours are vastly improved when viewed through my 23" LCD. Real world, hah! Who needs it?
ColinBud wrote:
I understand that as far as Americans are concerned , that IS the whole world, but it would be nice to win a cool robot prize.
FIFY. :-D
-
Robot Geek wrote:
Do you think that the Code Project crowd would dig winning robots in the monthly article contests?
Certainly. Articles about making an LED blink on a parallel port get rave votings. Imagine that! A blinking LED - as if we hadn't enough of these yet! I've written the low level interfaces to various custom-built hardware myself, and I still get a very unique kick out of the first successful command that has an effect "in the real world", outside the box. Virtually all our interns enjoy getting some motor to spin, some axis to move... the more hotwired, the more crude, the less encapsulated the better. With the diversity of windows development toolsa lot of the prices are rather "meh" to a lot of developers. As great as a toolkit for shiny round in WPF might be, you won't really benefit of it if you do native of WinForms or whatever. Robots, OTOH... they work for everyone.
Make sure you can award the prize everywhere in the world. "US and Canada only" isn't "international". If you can't export to some countries for one reason or another, consider a "consolation prize" that's twice as big and thrice as cool as you think a robot would be. You might want one of your guys to write a codeproject-style introductory article. (before publishing, check with Chris or one of the editors that it isn't too advertisy - that could give you a nasty backlash). But probably you can also just sit back and wait for one of the prize winners to do that :) Good luck with your CP adventures! I hope - and see a very good chance - that it works out for both sides.
Agh! Reality! My Archnemesis![^]
| FoldWithUs! | sighist | WhoIncludes - Analyzing C++ include file hierarchy>>>I've written the low level interfaces to various custom-built hardware myself, and I still get a very unique kick out of the first successful command that has an effect "in the real world", outside the box. Exactly :) I used to be a programmer in another life before this gig and that is exactly what thrilled me about this area. For programmers it really is cool seeing code that interacts with the physical world. I was hooked. It started with basic I/O (that is input/output to you newbs :P) and natural progressed on to robotics. I have been saying for many years now that robotics would truly start to move forward if we could unleash the tens of millions of computer programmers in the world onto the space. Just imagine having thousands of garage coders banging away at vision and walking algorythms. That is where the wall is at right now and only a tiny handfull of the worlds technologists are working on it. BTW - there is a cool new product out called the netduino. (and this isn't self promotion because we don't even carry it yet) What is fascination about this particular board is that it really is a hybrid between old world microcontrollers and modern programming languages. http://www.netduino.com/ The intersecting of these two worlds is pretty exciting. And robotics is the intersection of mankinds two greatest technologies; automation of physical labor (industrial age and on) and automation of intellectual labor (modern computing). It'll be a game changer eventually, but we have a long ways to go. I compare the calculator to the roomba and it was 25+ years between the calculator and a PC in every home, so that gives us an idea of the timeline. >>>You might want one of your guys to write a codeproject-style introductory article. (before publishing, check with Chris or one of the editors that it isn't too advertisy - that could give you a nasty backlash). We would love to do this. I honestly do think there is a benefit to programmers hearing about this new world, but it is hard to do without being self promotional because after all, we would point to the products being used in our store. Maybe as long as we are sponsors giving away robots people would be cool with it? This is the whole reason I started a thread first :) Thanks for the feedback!
-
Great idea! Can't wait to read the articles that will result from this. Will you also expose to us some of the interfaces to your motion builder, etc., so that we can attempt to "improve" or modify or attempt to build our own motion builder/robot motion teaching tools? Thanks, in advance if you decide to proceed with this idea!:thumbsup:
The motion builder stuff comes from the manufactures. So that pretty much is what it is, but a huge amount of robotics is the community building on top of each others code. So, yes, a lot of that is open source and encouraged for people to improve on. You will find that most of the community is very giving in this space.
-
It sounds like a great idea, Matt! :-D I'm sure quite a few members will be motivated to compete for such prizes, so be sure to suggest this to Chris!
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
I might be an idiot here, feel free to laugh at me. I didn't see how to email Chris. No buttons for it on his profile. I just wanted to point him to the thread and let him see the community input.
-
>>>I've written the low level interfaces to various custom-built hardware myself, and I still get a very unique kick out of the first successful command that has an effect "in the real world", outside the box. Exactly :) I used to be a programmer in another life before this gig and that is exactly what thrilled me about this area. For programmers it really is cool seeing code that interacts with the physical world. I was hooked. It started with basic I/O (that is input/output to you newbs :P) and natural progressed on to robotics. I have been saying for many years now that robotics would truly start to move forward if we could unleash the tens of millions of computer programmers in the world onto the space. Just imagine having thousands of garage coders banging away at vision and walking algorythms. That is where the wall is at right now and only a tiny handfull of the worlds technologists are working on it. BTW - there is a cool new product out called the netduino. (and this isn't self promotion because we don't even carry it yet) What is fascination about this particular board is that it really is a hybrid between old world microcontrollers and modern programming languages. http://www.netduino.com/ The intersecting of these two worlds is pretty exciting. And robotics is the intersection of mankinds two greatest technologies; automation of physical labor (industrial age and on) and automation of intellectual labor (modern computing). It'll be a game changer eventually, but we have a long ways to go. I compare the calculator to the roomba and it was 25+ years between the calculator and a PC in every home, so that gives us an idea of the timeline. >>>You might want one of your guys to write a codeproject-style introductory article. (before publishing, check with Chris or one of the editors that it isn't too advertisy - that could give you a nasty backlash). We would love to do this. I honestly do think there is a benefit to programmers hearing about this new world, but it is hard to do without being self promotional because after all, we would point to the products being used in our store. Maybe as long as we are sponsors giving away robots people would be cool with it? This is the whole reason I started a thread first :) Thanks for the feedback!
Sounds like a fun job for sure.
Robot Geek wrote:
, but it is hard to do without being self promotional because after all, we would point to the products being used in our store
Disclaimer: I am just one of the members here, so this is all my personal impression, not an official codeproject statement. I self-promotion isn't a problem per-se. It's just a thin line (as in most communities). Your article will be well-received if the author is open about his "connection" with the product, provides valuable technical content for free (even if it builds upon a commecrial product), and cuts out the marketing blabber. Most of us are Windows developers we don't see money as the 3rd incarnation of evil. Many of us write software for a living, many are self employed and contribute to CodeProject to show off their skills. For example, Uwe Keim[^] writes a lot articles about working with zeta producer, sold by the company he works for. While that has been noted, he has managed well by now. And don't forget, robots are cooooool. If you check a few of the top-rating articles for writing style, contents and presentation, you should be fine. If you want to play it real safe, there's the Product Showcase[^] which looks just right for your situation. I bet if you sponsor some competition prizes, it's part of the deal (or can be made so). Now I have to write an excellent article, to win a robot! :cool:
Agh! Reality! My Archnemesis![^]
| FoldWithUs! | sighist | WhoIncludes - Analyzing C++ include file hierarchy -
I might be an idiot here, feel free to laugh at me. I didn't see how to email Chris. No buttons for it on his profile. I just wanted to point him to the thread and let him see the community input.
Post a link to the Site Bugs/Suggestions Forum; those go directly to him.
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
-
Hey all :) Question for the masses from us robot geeks to the code geeks ;P We are from Trossen Robotics, an online community and store for hobby and research robotics. We have looked into donating robots in the past to the Code Project prize pools. We figured (A) What a great place to advertise to! Millions of techy geeks hang out there, wow. (B) Tech geeks should love robots right? After all, you have to program your robot to make it do stuff. So we wanted to ask straight up. Do you think that the Code Project crowd would dig winning robots in the monthly article contests? Is it an audience match or are we in the wrong sandbox? You are probably thinking, well, what KIND of robots??? Fair enough... Here are some cool projects that come out of our community, scroll down to see past winners. http://www.trossenrobotics.com/contest.aspx The bioloid kits are a good example for prizes. Here is our latest in house project Paintball Robot Turret. Oh, and we do some RFID stuff too, like this kind of kit that has Windows 7 login. Maybe this is something most coders would enjoy? RFID Experimenters Kit Lastly, here is a video our intern did about Robot Pioneers. So anyhow, just curious of everyone's thoughts. Cheers, Matt
Robot Geek wrote:
the Code Project crowd would dig winning robots in the monthly article contests
:thumbsup: Nice to know about them. Thanks for thinking and taking the step.
-
Hey all :) Question for the masses from us robot geeks to the code geeks ;P We are from Trossen Robotics, an online community and store for hobby and research robotics. We have looked into donating robots in the past to the Code Project prize pools. We figured (A) What a great place to advertise to! Millions of techy geeks hang out there, wow. (B) Tech geeks should love robots right? After all, you have to program your robot to make it do stuff. So we wanted to ask straight up. Do you think that the Code Project crowd would dig winning robots in the monthly article contests? Is it an audience match or are we in the wrong sandbox? You are probably thinking, well, what KIND of robots??? Fair enough... Here are some cool projects that come out of our community, scroll down to see past winners. http://www.trossenrobotics.com/contest.aspx The bioloid kits are a good example for prizes. Here is our latest in house project Paintball Robot Turret. Oh, and we do some RFID stuff too, like this kind of kit that has Windows 7 login. Maybe this is something most coders would enjoy? RFID Experimenters Kit Lastly, here is a video our intern did about Robot Pioneers. So anyhow, just curious of everyone's thoughts. Cheers, Matt
-
Hey all :) Question for the masses from us robot geeks to the code geeks ;P We are from Trossen Robotics, an online community and store for hobby and research robotics. We have looked into donating robots in the past to the Code Project prize pools. We figured (A) What a great place to advertise to! Millions of techy geeks hang out there, wow. (B) Tech geeks should love robots right? After all, you have to program your robot to make it do stuff. So we wanted to ask straight up. Do you think that the Code Project crowd would dig winning robots in the monthly article contests? Is it an audience match or are we in the wrong sandbox? You are probably thinking, well, what KIND of robots??? Fair enough... Here are some cool projects that come out of our community, scroll down to see past winners. http://www.trossenrobotics.com/contest.aspx The bioloid kits are a good example for prizes. Here is our latest in house project Paintball Robot Turret. Oh, and we do some RFID stuff too, like this kind of kit that has Windows 7 login. Maybe this is something most coders would enjoy? RFID Experimenters Kit Lastly, here is a video our intern did about Robot Pioneers. So anyhow, just curious of everyone's thoughts. Cheers, Matt
Just a note to say thanks again for everyone's input. You guys spoke up and codeproject listened :) They added a new hardware section and contest with robots as the prizes. Check it out: http://www.codeproject.com/Competitions/441/Hardware-Competition.aspx[^] Time to start writing articles! Good luck!