Please note that this schedule is tentative and may change at any point in time leading up to the event.
After a long day of travel, join us and your fellow attendees at the local restaurant, The Falcon's Nest. Full of incredible aviation memorabilia, billiard tables, and TVs, the Falcon's Nest has something for everyone - even if just sitting out on the deck strikes your fancy. We will have appetizers and communal food offerings available for you to munch on. It is a quick (~2 minute) walk from the hotel and we look forward to seeing you there!
Meet us in front of the Amelia Ballroom (our main session room in the conference center) for conference check-in/registration. Grab your bag and badge and then meet your fellow RobotsConf attendees over breakfast.
Conference introductions and a quick overview of how RobotsConf will work (for those of you that aren't reading this schedule). We will introduce you to the staff and the experts we have assembled at the event to help you build amazing things throughout the next 36 hours. These individuals will be your guides on the journey towards hardware enlightenment, take full advantage of the time you have with them!
OculusHead - A 3D printed robotic head for a telepresence immersive experience
From Idea to Product
The remainder of the scheduled events for the day will be a blend of surveys and small group hands-on sessions working through specific workshops. During this time you will identify your small group that you will be working with, kick around ideas, or just decide to build out your bot dreams and bring them to life.
The "workshop surveys", as we call them, are designed to provide you with a quick, rapid fire overview of each of the major segments within the Maker movement. By the end of this period you will be knowledgeable about all of the areas and hopefully have identified a small subset that deeply interest or excite you. The goal of these workshops isn't necessarily to explain everything in 20 minutes (an impossible task), but to give you enough insight to know if you need to return to the workshop later to accomplish your robotic goals! Think of it as speed dating for the maker movement. This year, they are opt-in surveys that allow you to gather the information that you want and will be held in our Lecture Room (same as the keynote speakers).
The pop-up makerspace will be open during this time as well for anyone that wants to begin building and will be right next to the lecture room! If you have an idea and a team, you can start breadboarding and soldering items together to build your invention, otherwise use this time to form a team (or go solo, that is perfectly fine!) and come up with what you are going to build. During the open hack, you will have you have access to the best possible people in your preferred language there to help (and independence for when you don't) as well as all of the workshop experts. There will be drones available to hack on, solder stations ready to connect metal, and more servos than you can possibly imagine. The evening will buzz with the excitement and energy that only comes when you are building your very own electronic inventions.
Presented by Bryan Hughes.
Presented by Nick Doiron.
Brought to you by Electric Imp. Presented by Matt Haines.
Presented by Kristina Durivage.
Food is the fuel that will drive you through the next couple hours. Fill up on a great menu and conversations about hardware hacking and robots before we enter into the workshop component of the event. The lunch will have veggie-friendly options and strict vegan meals available for individuals that have a special meal ticket.
Brought to you by GitHub. Presented by Susan Hinton and Mike Skalnik.
Brought to you by APIGEE . Presented by Matt Dobson.
Presented by TBD.
Presented by Pawel Szymczykowski.
Presented by Kassandra Perch.
Presented by David Lang.
Refueled and Ready to Continue Making!
It is time to build, build, build! Everyone will be introduced to the pop-up makerspace and encouraged to form teams and start building (unless you have already started, then keep on keepin' on). After the first tutorial, we will be opening up the lecture space to allow anyone to speak that may want to do so -- that space is yours!
To kick this off we will have quick entry level tutorial period that will dive much deeper into the beginning steps of hardware hacking, allowing everyone to build and control a robot in under an hour. This is completely optional, but strongly recommended if this is your first time with hardware OR it has been a while since you last dabbled in hardware. We will be taking a tour of the Popup Makerspace during this time period with the group. If you do not attend the session, you will be allowed to travel with tour group if you want!
At this time we will have an open spaces style "sign up to speak" portion that will use our presentation space, so if you want a deep dive on something OR you want to provide a deep dive on something, just sign up and speak!
Refueled and Ready to Continue Making!
RobotsConf is not just about soldering components together, but also about bringing people together. As such, PwC is providing you with a great evening social event, while still allowing you to participate in the Open Hack night (or just discuss and watch). Right in the same area as the open hack event, we will be hosting a pizza party for everyone so you can grab a slice (or a couple) and head back to building or enjoy the cool night air -- entirely up to you. If you want to take a complete break from the day, there will be fires going around the heated pool... so there is that option.
For those so inclined, we will be hosting the first of two sumobot tournaments. The first will be at 8:00PM with bots controlled by our invited experts. The tournament is a great way to start down a path of building something that you can then compete and evolve over time. For an example of what a sumobot tournament will look like, see below:
Whether you just need a break from hacking or are looking for deep conversation, stop by the evening campfire located on the beach. Pull up some sand, roast a couple marshmallows, and enjoy the stars. Talk shop with your fellow attendees or sit back recharge your batteries!
At this time we will have an open spaces style "sign up to speak" portion that will use our presentation space, so if you want a deep dive on something OR you want to provide a deep dive on something, just sign up and speak!
Continue to hack forward after a refreshing bit of sleep (or pool time, if you prefer) as you race to the finish line of the RobotsConf Science Fair. We will provide food and refreshments throughout the day so you can stay at the top of your hacking. If you finish early or just want to declare you bot complete, you can go learn more at each of the workshop stations or offer to support any of the sumobot teams as the battle to the championships. We want everyone to have a great time and to learn and experience as much as possible while we have the experts and hardware readily available, so if you have time and desire to start another project, please get to it! You are only confined by your motivation and the amount of time we have the space.
Food is the fuel that will drive you through the next couple hours. Fill up on a great menu and conversations about hardware hacking and robots before we enter into the workshop component of the event. The lunch will have veggie-friendly options and strict vegan meals available for individuals that have a special meal ticket.
Our second, and far more epic, sumobot competition is for attendees only and will be the battle for the RobotsConf Sumobot Champion cup. The tournament is a great way to start down a path of building something that you can then compete and evolve over time.
Every team will be given a period of time to present before the RobotsConf audience about their creations and their efforts to make it. The domain experts and keynote speakers will determine which group shall win the coveted (well, we hope it will be) RobotsConf Cup as best in show of the RobotsConf Science Fair. Also, the final winners of the sumobot competition will be announced as well as provided with a bit of time to describe their strategy to victory.
Becoming a Maker
New DaVinci - Inspiring The Next 10 Years
The final remarks from the RobotsConf team, a thank you to all sponsors, workshop guides, language experts, and speakers. We finish it all off with our famous family photograph to provide the lasting image of those that survived RobotsConf 2014!
After spending almost a solid 48 hours building robots, printing plastic creations, and controlling drones - it is finally time to put down our serial ports and enjoy each others company. Enjoy an absolutely amazing evening out on the marsh with all of your new roboticist friends while you dine on local cuisine. You don't have to worry about walking their, you can take the local bus system - or if you want a rather nice bike ride, you can also bike there. See you there!
