10.9.10  10AM – 5PM and 10.10.10 12-PM to 5pm at the Discovery Center

Presented by Reuseum, Obtainium Technology Recyclers, and hosted by The Discovery Center of Idaho.

We hope that by creating an event singular to the community in our hometown, that inspiration will thrive and we will all be able to share in something that matters most to those who live here.  In 2009, David from the Reuseum founded the Bot Comp as a serious response to a joke made about having a local junkyard war.  He saw that even though there were many creative outlets, clubs, and teams surrounding robotics and technology that one could participate with in the Treasure Valley, they all either left town to compete or didn’t have an existing forum to be able to show the public their achievements. To fix this the very first Bot Competition was held at the Visual Arts Collective on September 12th, 2009.  Needless to say, it was a blast and so this year we want to make it even more of what an event like this can entail.

Installations and Exhibits including the  The Rise of Replicators and the Free-Range Robo-Corral where you and show off your favorite and most awesome free form robotic designs by local creative types and engineers.

Walk-In Workshops will be available for anyone who would like to make their very own bug sized robot capable of chasing light. This project is a great way to introduce anyone to the creativity of robotics.

MiniSumo tournaments and Demonstrations will be held on Saturday and Sunday.

Classrooms will be dedicated not only to making your awesome creations, but also tearing down obsolete technology in order to find recyclable components for junkbots.

Admission is free to those participating with Robots, otherwise normal admission fees for DCI apply.

For the full schedule of events, you can visit www.boisebotcompetition.org.

Hope to see you there!

At the next of our bot-themed workshops, we’ll be making a school of sumo-bots in preparation for this year’s Boise Bot Competition. We happily asked the Discovery Center to host the event this year, and I hope we give this second go around everything it deserves to be.

SUMO Circuit, ready for testing!

Now let’s talk tech a bit. A byte about the ‘bots, if you will. It seems that the popular thing to do is program these days, and while the industry standard with various DIY platforms, I believe there may be an elegant solution to the ancient and pristine art of robotics as an introduction to the theory.  ANALOG!   There have been many excellent examples of this from the minds of Solarbotics and BEAM for over a decade, and manage to be capable of agile function and enough power to kick it old school in a quick environment.

Since we like to cook from scratch as well, the kits you will receive will be resourced from unused excess components, and some nice torquey (it is so a word) geared motors that Dave picked up from a DIY robotics community, letsmakerobots.com a while back.  We also designed and etched a favored competition design, so this generation of bots from the Reuseum is locally produced from the ground up. It’s our hope that we can illustrate the potential in our hometown for creativity and community truly unique and important for all of us who like a bit of geek in their life. With all of the kits you can by, this is guaranteed to be a little bit more punk rock.

For the full detail on the Freestyle Sumo tournament at Boise ‘Bot Competition on the 9th and 10th of October, you can visit the event website www.boisebotcompetition.org for more details.

Workshop starts at 6:00pm on Saturday, September 25th. You are encouraged to RSVP in advance via the contact form here on the site as we only make a limited batch at any given time. Special discounts are available when you bring in your own recyclables to build with, don’t forget to ask about details!

Now that you might have a little bit of that camping, biking, extreme sports, sun saturated lounging, aggressive walking or badminton obsession out of your system, coupled with the fact that winter is coming (too soon?), do you have a project in mind to keep your brain exercised as well? It is our strange and continuing mission to outfit and supply the Treasure Valley with the type of things that you just may not be able to find anywhere else. From re-purposable odds and ends to the obscure and specific vintage relics, we make it our mission to reach out and build what has not been built before. If you are one of the thousand types of geeks, gadgeteers or collectors, you may not have an excuse to delay visiting us any further.