UPENE-- Random thoughts
rjo__
Posts: 2,114
You can google... blog, post to the forum, read the mags, study the available books and there are things that you will not learn, cannot learn or will take a long time learning that are freely available at every UPExpo.
There was something different to learn from every demo and table.
One of my favorite bots was Papa Ledger's huge arm. It didn't pound any nails or crush any cans this time... but when it does stand back. It was just plain fun to look at.
In the OMG "how did I not know this" category ... it came as a complete surpise to me that you could put an LED between two Prop pins and light it up... yes... I've looked at CharliePlexing --- here in the forum and elsewhere And I saw a demo by a 13 year old at the first UPENE... and still I missed the essential fact! Go figure.
The most fun I've had since the last Expo.
Most interesting non-Propeller fact learned this trip: Indiana has "Travel Emporiums"... just like your standard travel plaza... except many of them do not have a "You are HERE" map. I guess if you don't know where you are, Indiana feels no special obligation to tell you:)
I wish we could have asilent auction on some of the items...
Case in point: the front of our old beater was recently taken off by an inconsiderate driver. While the back end sat at the pre-junk yard, my copy of the Hydra bible disappeared. I didn't want to gamble heavily this time out... but I would have outbid everyone there to get a copy without having to put it through my purchasing agent:)
Great job Jeff, Brian, etc.
Thank you Parallax!
Rich
There was something different to learn from every demo and table.
One of my favorite bots was Papa Ledger's huge arm. It didn't pound any nails or crush any cans this time... but when it does stand back. It was just plain fun to look at.
In the OMG "how did I not know this" category ... it came as a complete surpise to me that you could put an LED between two Prop pins and light it up... yes... I've looked at CharliePlexing --- here in the forum and elsewhere And I saw a demo by a 13 year old at the first UPENE... and still I missed the essential fact! Go figure.
The most fun I've had since the last Expo.
Most interesting non-Propeller fact learned this trip: Indiana has "Travel Emporiums"... just like your standard travel plaza... except many of them do not have a "You are HERE" map. I guess if you don't know where you are, Indiana feels no special obligation to tell you:)
I wish we could have asilent auction on some of the items...
Case in point: the front of our old beater was recently taken off by an inconsiderate driver. While the back end sat at the pre-junk yard, my copy of the Hydra bible disappeared. I didn't want to gamble heavily this time out... but I would have outbid everyone there to get a copy without having to put it through my purchasing agent:)
Great job Jeff, Brian, etc.
Thank you Parallax!
Rich
Comments
I share your frustration in the lack of "You are Here" maps. I guess they think that knowing your in Indiana is good enough. But, other than that, welcome to our state.
This was my first expo and I am very new to the prop. and still trying to learn all of the ins and outs of Pbasic. I had a blast and will be making this a yearly trip. A big thanks to OBC and Parallax!!
My impressions:
Mike Greene's laser-based HUD was most impressive.
Hanno's 12Block graphical programming environment was a lot neater than I thought it would be. Especially interesting were the live updates you could do without reprogramming. The part that blew me away was how a flock of robots could perform actions as a swarm based upon what another unit was doing - Something to think more about.
Besides all the great people I met, I really enjoyed getting to know Beau Schwabe. He likes Atari's and had a cool text editor themed after the old 'MEMO PAD' and showed around schematics and IC layout for part of Prop II.
The Parallax people were very friendly and brought a lot of goodies to hand out and raffle. I'm looking forward to future events.
It's incredible to see all of the stuff that folks bring..
The Propeller Robots were AWESOME. (Even if I did get shot by one of them twice!)
I learned all kinds of interesting things just seeing how folks were setup.
(Example, someone brought their home PCB fabbing kit. I never thought about using two irons "head-to-head" to heat up my boards.)
With the 2010 UPE's just about put to bed, I get my Propeller "free time" back! Yeah! I've got several ideas that have been on my back burner when the snow starts falling again in Ohio sooner than I want..
OBC
Like last year, I came home with some cool stuff... and lots of cool junk from freebee table
Can't wait 'till next year!
Pat
Hope to meet some of you in Florida next year.
Ron (aka sailman58)
Hanno
UPENE in General:
- Thanks for OBC/Jeff (and his hardworking crew behind the scenes) and Parallax for supporting (officially or unofficially) these events. I've really enjoyed each one and I hope to see these continue for many years. Parallax was extremely generous in donating items for the event and also generated some money for charity. It speaks volumes about Parallax as a company and also of the values of the people that work there. I'd encourage each person who made it to the event to let Parallax know how much it is appreciated!
- Thanks to the others that attended the UPENE show. Without a good group of interesting people bringing their knowledge and projects to the show these wouldn't be the same. I just wish I would have had more time to talk to people instead of just getting my robot ready....
- Next year have a couple of Sharpie markers at the check in booth and ask if each person would write there forum name on the badge too. Without that you end up talking to people that you have no idea you may have been talking to for years on the forum. Also, you see people posting afterward that you didn't realize was at the show. Unless someone doesn't have a form name (or doesn't want it shown) then it should be on our tags.
Freebie table:
- I brought 4 rather large boxes of stuff for the table (I know there was some cool items in there: motors, keypads, boards, etc) and it appeared that all of it was gone by the end of the show. I think it would be really cool to hear from people that picked up items from the Freebie table what treasure they found and also how they will end up using it in a new project. I brought items to help others out and I'd like to know if it helped you. Good responses may help me dig a bit deeper next year...
- Freebie table etiquette could be a bit better next year. Ok guys, we all enjoy finding a treasure at the table that someone was kind enough to put on the table. However the last couple of boxes that were dumped on the table generated a bit too much excitement. Previous years wasn't a problem but I was surprised and stayed clear of the table myself. This isn't like when the Tickle me Elmo's came out and people were going crazy to get them. Be sure to give everyone a fair shot!
Attending the show:
- Comparing this to the last two events I can say that it is best to get a full nights sleep before the show to be able to take it all in. The weeks leading up to the show were all late nights and I was up past 3:30am soldering the morning of the show. As a result I wasn't as talkative and not my usual self. Next year I would like to spend more time talking to everyone and sit in on more demonstrations.
At any rate I really enjoyed the show and am already looking forward to next year!
Robert
I normally spend a bit of money at the Expos buying new gadgets to play with. This year I was doing really really good conserving my money, only spending $20 on raffle tickets. That was until I bought Bean's PCB Milling Machine....lol Now I can MAKE my own gadgets to play with... :-)
I always have alot of fun at these. The get togethers before the actual Expo is as much fun talking to others that have the same affliction.
I was thinking of what RobotWorkshop was saying about the feeding frenzies at the Freebie table when Parallax dumped their stuff. If those items are so popular why not make up grab bags of the stuff and put them in the raffle next year and raise money for the chosen charity.
I think the best part of that Jim, is that you put it on your bike to take home!!! :-)
BTW... how was Indy? (Shame about Peter Lenz, though.)
Bill
Jim told me he bought Bean's PCB milling machine and I didn't even think about how he was getting it home! He problably just balanced it on the handle bars.
I didn't see that part
This years Expo was great, they keep getting better and better!
I appreciate the customers past and present that stopped and visited us at the uController table. I saw many familiar faces from past years, and met a few new people!
More importantly, I walked away from this years expo with enthusiasm (or maybe it was adrenaline from the roller-coasters at Cedar Point the next day), I believe that will be the impetus to get some new designs and products into the works for the coming months.
A big thanks goes out to Jeff and Family for putting this all together! Brian for the delicious lunch! and Parallax for the support and donations!
Brian - uController.com
That is an excellent suggestion and would probably make the freebie table a bit more fair for everyone.
Robert
I went from the Expo to Indy to watch the MotoGP races.
Ron (aka sailman58)
Congratulations to Adam for his quick whip up of a robot that took first prize.
And I agree with RobotWorkshop that having forum identification on the name badge would be a great idea.
Thanks Parallax for a wonderful expo!
Steve
I found the dinner the night before and the breakfast the day of to be most interesting in our round table discussions.
What a great bunch of guys with so many unique talents !
Robert
Carrying a 4 burner bbq didn't stop this local in a 100kph zone... he got fined, but he's famous now.