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> Thursday's meeting was excellent with approximately 32 WCRS/IEEE
> people in attendance.
>
> This meeting was the first of the alternating WCRS/IEEE style and
> thanks goes out to Chris Macnab for organizing it.  The theme was
> "solar power."
>
> Shawn Zwierzchowski of the Calgary solar car team gave a fabulous
> presentation about the solar car and the events it has competed in.
> The team had planned to bring along the prototype car for the
> presentation but a technical difficulty kept it in the shop.
>
> He was clearly pleased at how their car is working and many of us are
> looking forward to hearing more about the car's development for future
> races.
>
> Check out their website: http://www.calgarysolarteam.ca
>
> Right afterwards Dave Hrynkiw of Solarbotics showed us some of the
> things Solarbotics does with their solar cells and how they are
> tested.  It sounds like he is planning to be out during summer
> solstice to test their newest cells using their way cool automated
> testing system.  His tests are clearly designed to provide more
> meaningful information for hobbyists who want to properly use their
> solar cells.
>
> I am sure most of us have been to their web site but if you haven't yet
> here it is: http://www.solarbotics.com
>
> Next Sam and Christopher Wang of the First Lego League gave a short
> talk about their adventures during the FLL competition.  It sounds
> like they had a great time and learned a lot.  The FLL homepage
> can be found here:
>
> http://www.firstlegoleague.org
>
> Finally, Craig Maynard showed us a piece of the rip-stop fabric used
> by Nasa for the first Martian Rover's parachute.  The techs at Nasa
> were impressed by the photos of the rover made by Craig and the WCRS
> they found on the web and sent him a parachute sample.  Several
> parachutes were made and at least one of the ones that didn't go to
> mars were cut up for samples.   I was amazed by how light and strong
> it appeared.
>
> For the next two WCRS/IEEE meetings the tentative theme is "robot
> locomotion."
>
> The March meeting will be more hands-on and focus on robot locomotion
> using stuff that rotates (i.e. tracks/wheels/etc).  I plan to give a
> presentation on tracks/treads and how/where they can be bought, made
> or hacked from toys.  If anyone has a presentation on this theme or
> other interesting topics please contact me and I will add you to the
> schedule.  I can be reached through the ffdude user at yahoo groups. 
>
> As a special bonus HVWtech has very generously donated a pair of
> Chipquik surface mount desoldering kits which will be given out as a
> door prize and be used for a demo during the March meeting.  If you
> haven't heard of Chipquik before surf to HVWtech site and follow the
> products -> soldering -> desoldering links for more detail. 
>
> http://www.hvwtech.com
>
> With this stuff you don't need heavy-duty expensive tools to gently
> remove surface mount components.  You don't want to miss seeing this
> stuff in action.
>
> More details about the March and April meetings will be posted once we
> have nailed down more of the details.
>
> Climber
>