News from 2011

July 15, 2011

Colorado Robotics Association Breakfast 2

The success of the first Colorado Robotics Association (CRA) breakfast meeting led to a second meeting, and the decision to meet quarterly, have speakers on a variety of topics, and likely host a robotics expo in the fall. The second meeting's focus was on funding, something many small (and large) robotics firms find a challenge to acquire. Representatives from government, private banking, and two venture capital funds spoke. The CRA was the brain-child of business owners Stephen Garran (ClubWorkshop), Steven Gentner (RoboRealm), and, Jim Gunderson and Louise Gunderson (Gamma Two Robotics). This meeting, like the first, exceeded expectations for interest, attendance, and networking.

May 3, 2011

Metro Computer Science Capstone Team develops GUI for Robots

Gamma Two Robotics worked with seniors at Metro (Metropolitan State College of Denver)specifying requirements for a GUI interface to work with Gamma Two's autonomous robots. This was the third group of students to work as a capstone team, delivering software for Gamma Two's use. Obviously the partnering of students with real-world robot software needs has been a success, and Drs. Louise and Jim Gunderson are looking forward to another such collaboration in the Fall of '11.

April 15, 2011

Colorado Robotics Association Inagural Meeting

Individuals representing over 20 front-range businesses from the robotics industry met at the Denver Press Club, with hopes of beginning alliances and partnerships in the Colorado robotics community, strengthening the group's collective position in the robotics marketplace, and increasing the awareness of products and services offered by this eclectic and creative community.

Representatives from each firm were allotted 5 minutes to talk about themselves and their robots. There was so much interest in the projects and people creating robots that it was difficult to end the meeting. More meetings are scheduled for this fledgling group. Press Release (pdf)

April 1, 2011

Basil appears on Denver's Channel 2

To promote National Robotics Week and because Chris Parente is such a fan, Basil appeared on Colorado's Everyday Show. Basil even "fought" a "robotic" camera at the end of the show. The camera had some cool moves, but, no brain, so really not a match for Basil. It was also opening day for baseball, so, Basil and Jim worked out a cool skit. No air time at Channel 2 for that, but you can view the video here.

March 1, 2011

Homeschool Class Visits the Gamma Two Lab

A group of homeschooled students visited the lab in March. The students had prepared for the visit by studying G2R videos (Gamma2Video on YouTube), reading books about robots, and discussing with their families what they expected from a robot meant for home assistance. Attentive to the robots and the Gundersons, and, armed with questions about vision, tasers and consciousness, the students kept the Gamma Two crew, and robots, entertained, as they learned about real world applications and issues.

2011