New Zealand VEX

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

With our Official NZ VEX Regional in 9 days, It has been decided (by Myself and Phr34kr) that its about time we showcased the VEX Robots of New Zealand.

I'll start us off with the little I have,
If anyone else is on here from NZ please add your two cents =]

(Note: I've only labelled the robots i'm absolutely certain about so let me know who is who if you can)
(Also Note: The blurry photos weren't taken by me :rolleyes: a few teammates who shall not be named can't use my camera very well *coughRyanandKellycough*)

GCEC Junior Built Robot "Chuck Norris" 2008 -

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k5/purpanie/Robotics/Picture006.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k5/purpanie/Robotics/Picture005.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k5/purpanie/Robotics/Picture003.jpg

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

GCEC - "Philup" 2008
(Designed by Girls, Taken over by One Junior Boy, Fixed at 2am the Morning of Competition by Girls)

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k5/purpanie/Robotics/05-12-08_171211.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k5/purpanie/Robotics/01-12-08_143146.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k5/purpanie/Robotics/05-12-08_171153.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k5/purpanie/Robotics/P1090912.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k5/purpanie/Robotics/P1090862.jpg

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

The Ricebot - Senior Boys 2008
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k5/purpanie/Robotics/P1090886.jpg
(Tim is this the one you fell in love with?)

The Haulinator (Half of our Winning GCEC Alliance) -
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k5/purpanie/Robotics/PIC_0125.jpg

The Haulinator in front while we fix up Twitchy in the Finals (just before we won)-
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k5/purpanie/Robotics/789767323a10165751356l.jpg

Winning Alliance - GC/EC
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k5/purpanie/Robotics/789767323a10165751475l.jpg

Rhys and The Haulinator, playing alongside SymbiOHSis - The Cute Guys of Onehunga High =]
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k5/purpanie/Robotics/PIC_0195.jpg

[NoahTheBoa]

Good luck in your first regional. I know that there are going to be some very good teams coming out of New Zealand.

[Rick TYler]

Nice robots, folks. Will any of you be making the L-O-N-G trip to Dallas, Texas, for the VRC World Championships? It would be great to see you in person.

Here's a picture of our Team 575, winner of the Excellence Award at the Vancouver, BC, Canada, Gladstone Open:

http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu273/rhtyler/VRC%20Gladstone%20Open%202009/DSC_0710.jpg

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

Good luck in your first regional. I know that there are going to be some very good teams coming out of New Zealand.

Aw thank you =] you're kind

Nice robots, folks. Will any of you be making the L-O-N-G trip to Dallas, Texas, for the VRC World Championships? It would be great to see you in person.


Why, yes =]
Our top 4 teams (so, everyone who makes finals) will be flying out to Dallas for the Champs. Phr34kr (when he gets home from school and posts) will likely be there considering his team's track record.
I also hope to attend. If either of our School's teams win we get to send 5 students. My team has 4 people and the other has 3, so if either of us make finals i'm likely to get there =]
i'm keen to meet you folks, too!

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

Found More Photos =]

My Pride and Joy =D "Twitchy" Built by Girls, 2009. Second half of our Winning Alliance
(Apparently we've been Disowned by our other driver for the Regional because he doesn't like us using a chain lift system, cos it kept breaking on Twitchy V2 (next post) but it worked fine on V1 and will for Regional too!!)

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k5/purpanie/Robotics/789767323a10165751328l.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k5/purpanie/Robotics/PIC_0184.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k5/purpanie/Robotics/PIC_0185.jpg


And Another of The Haulinator

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k5/purpanie/Robotics/PIC_0190.jpg

[phr34kR]

Hi this is the seniors robot from SymbiOHSis (6 out of 8 wins:cool: )

Oh and no thats not the claw i fell in love with it was the one with the cable and the spring:P

Crazy wheel set up FTW (at least we turn now)

[Jeff K.]

It's awesome seeing some of the people from the summer workshops we hosted in these pictures. I can't wait to see the first regional. New Zealand really bring forth a lot of innovation to the playing field.

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

Hi this is the seniors robot from SymbiOHSis (6 out of 8 wins:cool: )


Bwahaha and one of the other two was me XD

Oh and no thats not the claw i fell in love with it was the one with the cable and the spring
er... i'd better hunt for that, i dont remember it ^^;;

It's awesome seeing some of the people from the summer workshops we hosted in these pictures. I can't wait to see the first regional. New Zealand really bring forth a lot of innovation to the playing field.

I think we owe you guys something for getting us started those days =] tell your team thank you for me!

[usif]

Yeah, Thanks Eagle Engineering for kicking off the NewZealand Competitions.

Westlake Senior team did exceptional in the last competition (although we had our pneumatics play up). I dont have any photos For our robot, but I have a Ton from other schools (And videos). If you would like them posted, just reply yes or no.

How did your arm work for you in the last competition Tim? We are currently waiting on our medium sized chasis kit to come through, but it probably wont make it before the competition.

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

Westlake Senior team did exceptional in the last competition (although we had our pneumatics play up). I dont have any photos For our robot, but I have a Ton from other schools (And videos). If you would like them posted, just reply yes or no.

I probably have some of your robots lying around =] give me a few days to pull them out and upload them

sure, if you have some good photos that would be great =]

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

Westlake Senior team did exceptional in the last competition (although we had our pneumatics play up). I dont have any photos For our robot, but I have a Ton from other schools (And videos). If you would like them posted, just reply yes or no.

I probably have some of your robots lying around =] give me a few days to pull them out and upload them

sure, if you have some good photos that would be great =]

[phr34kR]

Our arm was just a liniear slide rail bolted together to the right length with a small to large gear doing the lifting (on a motor of course pretty simple but effective)

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

^ EVIL ROBOT
Lol jk, i love it really
horrible to play against though ><

Did you only have one support beam either side, Tim??

[chaoticprout]

As Jeff and Noah said, it's very nice to see familiar faces. Excited to hear how the Regional turns out, good luck.

[phr34kR]

Yea only one support beam either side but with a diagonal support beam formed into a triangle at the top for rigidity (and i got bored)

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

ah, k. so no issues with bending/sliding etc?
our robot is fail atm lol >< gotta get it sorted for saturday :O

[usif]

We are just fixing some oddities, and trying to fit into the size restriction :)

[phr34kR]

Fitting in the sizing box is good :) I really did like MAG's sizing box though seeing as it was made out of wood it made it nice and square and accurate.:)

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

Haha agreed - the sizing boxes are horrible if they arent exactly 18" when ur robot is 17.75"
its now 17.9" ^^;; better shrink it lol

[phr34kR]

Im still thinking along the lines of a 12ton press to shrink it lol:yikes:

[usif]

Yeah, I think our last measurement was around 17.8''. We are somewhat horrible in trying to fit in the size restrictions, every other competition they would let us off with 1/2 an inch extra, but I dont think it will happen this time

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

TIM!! I AM NOT SQUISHING MY ROBOT IN A 12 TON PRESS! NOR AM I USING A BIG HAMMER!!

yeah i dont think either of us would get away with it at regional - i'm gonna try to reduce ours a bit by then

[usif]

What are you all going to do after the Vex competition? I know that our FRC practise thingy is out of the question, but what will keep us competing

[phr34kR]

Design a new mini game (hopefully) and sleep
:D

[usif]

The problem that I have is time and money....
Its been pretty full on for me (Becuase its practically me and this other guy building the robot). I dont know about you, but our school charges a 125 dollar fee to join Robotics, and although its worth it if we did the FRC and vex throughout the whole year, it wont be if after this competition its all over.

Im just hoping we can still have competitions monthly, or so. Maybe even have battle bot competitions

Its a costly sport, it seriously is.

[phr34kR]

ah atm we have no joining fee (you just have to buy the $40 shirt) but we may introduce one to cover costs :o its fun though and gives me something to do with my time.:)

[usif]

I have wanting to ask you...Who did you go to to get your shirts printed out?

Also are we having that boot camp this year?

[phr34kR]

hmm i cant remember i know we brought the shirts from one supplier and took them somewhere else to get them printed and embroided ill have to get back to you on that one sorry.

seeing as the FRC was canceled im guessing no.

BTW how many people do you have on your team?

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

I'm gonna play others' minigames XD and sleep, yeah lol
and play more hockey :D

We havent done fees yet but are looking into 20-25 a term i think. and our shirts were $10 lol (we got cheapies, new ones will be more)
Tim where did you guys get ur shirts made/printed etc?

NO BATTLE BOTS!!!
I reckon we should just have the schools keep hosting VEX events in the off season personally

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

ah darn my question just got answered lol

no theres no FRC ergo no boot camp

[BrentJ]

There is no FIRST this year.

But there will be some off season Vex comps and in August we will kickoff with the new Vex game for the 2009-2010 season.

Also there will be a lot more teams from outside Auckland joining Vex so the Nationals in March 2010 should be really challenging.

Check with your mentor/teacher in charge for more details.

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

thanks brent

[Trueliez]

and our shirts were $10 lol (we got cheapies, new ones will be more)

Yeah, $10 per shirt and over 20 hours of my time screen printing them all by hand =P

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

Yeah, $10 per shirt and over 20 hours of my time screen printing them all by hand =P

I told you, i'd have helped if i'd known you were doing it ><

[Trueliez]

Winning Alliance - GC/EC
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k5/purpanie/Robotics/789767323a10165751475l.jpg


Best day ever =]

(for those of you wanting to put a face to a name, that would be me in the middle haha)

[NoahTheBoa]

Also are we having that boot camp this year?

To the best of my knowledge, we are not holding a boot camp like last year, but we will be hosting an unofficial FRC regional July 9-10. That is the latest information that I have heard. We have been in continued contact with Johan Potgieter at Massey University to try and get this unofficial Build Season/Regional planned. As far as I know there is going to be an unofficial regional.

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

You need a who am i pic Giselle =]
Good intro time!
Tim, meet Giselle. (Badge + Logo Designer)
Giselle, meet Tim. (Onehunga Builder)
you've both heard about each other =D

More Photos in a min~
[Or a few hours - upload glitches]

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

To the best of my knowledge, we are not holding a boot camp like last year, but we will be hosting an unofficial FRC regional July 9-10. That is the latest information that I have heard. We have been in continued contact with Johan Potgieter at Massey University to try and get this unofficial Build Season/Regional planned. As far as I know there is going to be an unofficial regional.

Actually the Regional has been cancelled. they couldnt afford it. we were informed a few days ago

[NoahTheBoa]

Actually the Regional has been cancelled. they couldnt afford it. we were informed a few days ago

That is really unfortunate, I'm sure we'll be doing something though if possible.

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

That is really unfortunate, I'm sure we'll be doing something though if possible.

They're using the money they will have left over to fund 4 VEX teams to World Champs instead of the winning two.
Also will be doing the new VEX game in August(?) out of the same fund

If we did FRC they were going to have to cancel just about everything robotics for like 3 years (apparently)

With the economy crashing down around us, NZ just aren't in a position to do much more at the moment :S it sucks

[Trueliez]

They're using the money they will have left over to fund 4 VEX teams to World Champs instead of the winning two.
Also will be doing the new VEX game in August(?) out of the same fund

If we did FRC they were going to have to cancel just about everything robotics for like 3 years (apparently)

With the economy crashing down around us, NZ just aren't in a position to do much more at the moment :S it sucks

Expanding on Steph's comments a little...

Holding an FRC Regional in New Zealand would have cleaned out the New Zealand FIRST Trust completely leaving no money for future robotics endeavours until we found new sponsors, which in this financial climate is difficult to say the least.

I believe the aim of NZ FIRST at the moment is to continue working with VEX to expand and start up regionals in other parts of the country and include more schools. I don't think that any FRC competitions will be happening here for a while, unless we gain a lot of long term funding soon, and/or until the profile of FIRST has been raised.

Correct me if I'm wrong haha =]

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

Correct me if I'm wrong haha =]

Right minus some?
as far as i'm told - there were a lot of issues even before the economy started crashing (with getting sponsorship) especially cos of that financial-planner-ish guy... Tim knows what i'm talking about.

It costs a lot of money to run FRC even in America, and 150% that in NZ at the best of times. I believe it was a struggle even before the conversions changed. I don't think it was ever practical to try and start FRC in NZ in such a small amount of time.

[usif]

Tim, I have got only around 4-5 People in the team, but its really only me and this other guy that do all the work.

I have decided against uploading any of my photos or videos, because I cant speak for the other teams, and they may not agree with me posting their robots on the internet. Its only fair.

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

I have decided against uploading any of my photos or videos, because I cant speak for the other teams, and they may not agree with me posting their robots on the internet. Its only fair.

Fair enough - is why I have so far only posted my own Robot (except the one with a few Onehunga Guys in it)
We really need to encourage members of other teams to get on here :O

[ajisjesus]

does anyone know if there is going to be a webcast?

[BrentJ]

does anyone know if there is going to be a webcast?


I don't know if it is planned but I will send an email to the organiser to ask and let you know.

[ajisjesus]

thanks!

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

Msg from Tim:
Symbiohsis has acess to 100mb upload/download servers in the states and if we can upload to them at massey would be more than happy to use them to stream the event

[BrentJ]

Msg from Tim:
Symbiohsis has acess to 100mb upload/download servers in the states and if we can upload to them at massey would be more than happy to use them to stream the event

That's good.

The quickest way is for Tim's Teacher in Charge to talk to Johan directly about it.

I haven't had a reply from Johan but he is probably very busy getting the venue setup for the comp.

[phr34kR]

Even if we cant stream from the event we are thinking of uploading videos and pictures of the event to the sever and posting the address on CD to show others the regional in NZ, we have access to plenty of space on the severs so if any teams can we would be happy to receive footage of matches and the event from them as well (we will hopefully have a few people recording matches and taking photos but it depends on the resources available to us to how much footage we will be able to record.

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

I'll have my video camera there filming whenever i'm not building/driving/programming and would be happy to contribute. We'll have at least 2 or 3 cameras there =]
I'm sure the same can be said for most other teams

[aciid_trojan]

I have received confirmation that symbiOHSis is allowed to stream the event from our pit area. I just need Tim to come online to post the times the stream will be available. all going well the stream will be available at http://stream.symbiohsis.com just don't try to go to it at the moment.

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

Thats brilliant! thanks for that!
i'm sure Tim will be on tonight sometime (he always is =])

[aciid_trojan]

oh im sure he will be. hes meant to be reminding me to do something. no idea what though... while im waiting ill upload incriminating videos of him to youtube :D

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

is this the one of Tim acting like a robot? link me when its up :D

[aciid_trojan]

thats the one indeed. will probably take a while. stupid slow NZ internet. :(

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

Brilliant XD he told me it isn't him :yikes: somehow i didn't believe it.

[phr34kR]

Seriously im going to report that video. SO you we will hopefully be streaming the event, if anyone has 1.3mp web cams please bring them with them to the event, and Aciid do your ict homework or you will be the only programmer/webmaster in the world to fail ict twice in a row.

[usif]

Sorry, I dont have any 1.3 MP cameras.

Big day is coming up soon, and we still dont have auonomous!
Our main prblem is that we dont have any shaft encoders, etc, only limit and bumper sensors

Could someone help me in trying to do some autonomous, even if you give me measurements.

[phr34kR]

Make it simple, without encoders you will have an even tougher time making an autonomous with drive (took our junior team like 10 hours (with the field) remember drive slowly you don't want to have to take into account slip.

EDIT: seems like streaming has been given the go ahead by massey :)

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

my webcam sucks but will check my brothers.

as for auto, we just went

Arm Lift 1.5s
drive .5s
eject 3s

it does great =]

and Tim, i'll give positive feedback to combat ur report :D

[BrentJ]

Seriously im going to report that video. SO you we will hopefully be streaming the event, if anyone has 1.3mp web cams please bring them with them to the event, and Aciid do your ict homework or you will be the only programmer/webmaster in the world to fail ict twice in a row.


Tim thats good you can stream it.

You have probably have thought of this already but on your website could you put some notices reminding people we are a day ahead of large parts of the world particulary a lot of the States.

This way they won't tune in a day late.

I don't have a webcam so sorry can't help.
But do you have any video grabber hardware for your computer because I thought there might be a video feed you could tap?

[phr34kR]

Hi we do have web cams but they are not 1.3mp ones unfortunately, our webmaster spent a lot of time last night setting up the site to get the streaming to work and apart from a little lag (due to slow uploading) it seems to work well. there will be a new thread created informing the users of Chief Delphi of the stream and the time delay.

[aciid_trojan]

Seriously im going to report that video. SO you we will hopefully be streaming the event, if anyone has 1.3mp web cams please bring them with them to the event, and Aciid do your ict homework or you will be the only programmer/webmaster in the world to fail ict twice in a row.

im doing it now. and if you report the video ill re upload it :)

[usif]

I'll have my video camera there filming whenever i'm not building/driving/programming and would be happy to contribute. We'll have at least 2 or 3 cameras there =]
I'm sure the same can be said for most other teams

Hi we do have web cams but they are not 1.3mp ones unfortunately, our webmaster spent a lot of time last night setting up the site to get the streaming to work and apart from a little lag (due to slow uploading) it seems to work well. there will be a new thread created informing the users of Chief Delphi of the stream and the time delay.

Tim, I played with my digital camera, and I found out that it can also act as a webcam (its a 4.1 MP camera). I have tested it and it is confirmed to be working.

The problem with my camera is that it eats through two AA batteries very easily. At the moment i dont have any AA batteries. That might be a problem.
otherwise, if anyone has a 3V DC charger (its a very small head size) then we could forget about batteries and run it off the main power supply (the only thing im worried about is that the charger anyone supplies may supply too much current).

if your interested, I will definitively bring mine.

Edit, my video camera (which i have a rechargeable batteries for and a DC power supply) can act as a webcam, the downside is that it needs a firewire port.

[aciid_trojan]

I've procured a 1.3mp webcam for us to use so that should be good. now i just hope massey has a decent internet connection for minimal lag to the server. with my private testings i have about a 1-2 minute lag :eek:

[usif]

I've procured a 1.3mp webcam for us to use so that should be good. now i just hope massey has a decent internet connection for minimal lag to the server. with my private testings i have about a 1-2 minute lag :eek:

So do you want me to bring my own, or not? it would be nice if we had a camera for both fields.

just wanting to confirm.

[aciid_trojan]

bring your own as well for redundancy or we might be able to rig something up and have multiple broadcast stations :) im quite sure my server could handle that

[usif]

bring your own as well for redundancy or we might be able to rig something up and have multiple broadcast stations :) im quite sure my server could handle that

Okay, Do you have a firewire port? Even so, I need to find the driver for my camera...

I will bring my digital one. The internet connection at massey should be fast, its a university connection and they normally have a direct link to the network, or even fiber optic link.

Also; what name would I be looking for on your team T-shirts?

[aciid_trojan]

ahh right, the laptop im going to be using to stream doesnt have a firewire port.

ill be wearing the shirt that says aciid_trojan ;)

and yeah, im hoping for some form of fiber with direct connection to global gateway *drools and wanders of to nerd heaven*

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

fraid i cant help with cameras, sorry.
will be videoing lots though and they'll go on youtube. or maybe i'll sell them :D

and yeah, im hoping for some form of fiber with direct connection to global gateway *drools and wanders of to nerd heaven*
is it bad that i understood that? XD

If is running from SymbiOHSis pits what will it be filming?

[aciid_trojan]

is it bad that i understood that? XD

not at all. nothing like downloading things on a direct connection to the global gateway. "linux isos" fully downloaded in minutes.

and it will be filming us frantically running around screaming that we've broken the robot or something like that, hopefully we can put a camera closer to the fields too :)

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

could always film the big screen they're feeding onto?
or just h4x the feed (wouldn't put it past you guys)

[aciid_trojan]

could always film the big screen they're feeding onto?
or just h4x the feed (wouldn't put it past you guys)

omg
you just gave me the best worst idea ever

packet sniffing ftw :D

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

LMFAO! You would!

might be a bit of work to stop the uni student computers from the network accessing it though

[usif]

Im sure The organisers wont mind if you could get clloser to the field. It has to be done, one way or another.

[aciid_trojan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx1oUgTDouM

:D phr34kr pretending to be a robot

[Rick TYler]

Please don't forget to post links to your videos on the VEX forum, too. www.vexforum.com

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

Regional Is going epic =] will be putting up some videos on youtube soon. will link you after

also -->
NZ Robotics on Breakfast this morning
http://tvnz.co.nz/breakfast-news/breakfast-friday-march-20-2570405/video?vid=2570718#

[Trueliez]

Anyone keen to start trading video footage and photos from regional?
I'm not sure what the best way to do this is, I was thinking of creating a Picasa album for you guys to browse and download what you like from there, sound good?

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

does Picasa do video too?

[Trueliez]

Not sure, possibly

[phr34kR]

Some one should just make a web site to make all the video available to download, im sure if someone talks to aciid hosting can be arranged.

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

Good idea. He sure has enough servers, too.
NZ VEX Website here we come?

[usif]

It would be great if we had a nz vex/frc forum, with personal team pages, etc

maybe a wiki and coppermine gallery (http://coppermine-gallery.net/), etc

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

Or even just a website with a small forum on it if we want, with links to the Team Websites (when everyone gets them) and a photo/video gallery etc where people can just download or save what they want

[Rick TYler]

CD is pretty busy, and heavily FRC-oriented, but you can do nearly everything you are asking for at vexforum.com, including posting unlimited pictures. Have you asked the Vexforum admins if they could host team Web pages?

Your New Zealand community is a little small to really create a community, and I'd hate to have you go off into your own small world. If the VRC world is going to achieve CD-like critical mass, I, for one, would like to see it center around one virtual on-line home, like Vexforum.

(Nothing at all against CD, by the way. It's just that as much as the admins open CD up to all robotics programs, it is first and foremost a home for FRC teams. That's OK, but it doesn't leave much for FTC or VRC teams.) (I <heart> CD.)

[BrentJ]

It would be great if we had a nz vex/frc forum, with personal team pages, etc

maybe a wiki and coppermine gallery (http://coppermine-gallery.net/), etc


If I heard right at the regional there is going to be a New Zealand Vex website hosted under the Massey ME Website

http://seat.massey.ac.nz/vex/ seems to have basic info and is maybe where the Vex site will be?

I think it is meant to be up and running in a few weeks.


An email to Johan will probably be able to clear it up.

If we can we probably should try and keep NZ Vex info / forums together as much as possible so people don't miss things.

So if someone wants to setup a photo /video site on a temp basis maybe keep in mind moving to the Massey site later.

Or do people want to have multiple NZ Vex sites?
I am thinking maybe teams could have their own websites but have a single Vex forum point?

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

I think when they were talking about the VEX site off of Massey it was for their photos. Correct me if i'm wrong but I don't think they said anything about Forums etc

as for the VEX Forum bit, the site is all well and good, I have nothing against it, but I think we were looking at something less formal (like CD) and something where you don't have to search or browse for hours to find stuff purely from NZ

Or we could have a photobucket/picasa type site with a publicly known username and password that we can link to from other sites.
Just gotta have a few people moderating it to keep it appropriate

Or a few people moderating an account and adding photos others put up (if anyone knows a site you can do that from)

[usif]

I know of a way to have a forum/gallery, wiki and website integrated into one package (I.e the username remains constant throughout every section). I can set it up on a free webhost for testing purposes, but if we are talking permanent then we will have to all chip in a few dollars, or possibly talk to Dr. Johan about a central "nz vex hub"

We could of course have a CD style homepage (As in the VBulletin portal page is the homepage). Give me the heads up and I can do it.

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

It sounds like a brilliant idea to me but I'm not so sure if most teams will be keen on paying for it. Maybe we should see if theres a free way of doing it, first?
:D or maybe we should see if Mr SymbiOHSis ((is it bad that my spell check has given up trying to correct that word?)) Webmaster can get one free like he can everything else
(semi-kidding)

The VBulletin would probably be the simplest way of doing it? Does it cost anything?
That could also get us our own version of 'CD-Media' for our photos, yes?

Correct me if I'm wrong, here.

[aciid_trojan]

I could provide hosting. (as SCROSSLEY-GCEC said, i have access to way too many servers :D) when i get a minute away from internals and what not ill see what i can whip up.

because i think the idea of having a central hub for NZ vex stuff is really important.

[Trueliez]

Your New Zealand community is a little small to really create a community, and I'd hate to have you go off into your own small world. If the VRC world is going to achieve CD-like critical mass, I, for one, would like to see it center around one virtual on-line home, like Vexforum.

because i think the idea of having a central hub for NZ vex stuff is really important.

I agree with both points. I think it's important that New Zealand teams stay in contact with the international robotics community, but I also think that it will be beneficial for teams to have a means of contacting teams specifically within our little national community.
As FIRST is just starting out in NZ, I think that building up a community where our teams can swap notes, get to know each other better and help each other out will in turn help the progression of the organisation in schools and local communities here.

[usif]

Okay guys, I worked on this after school, and I managed to get a user bridge (I.e same user login for both the main site and the forums)

The main site example : http://nzvex.x10hosting.com/joomla
The forum site example: http://nzvex.x10hosting.com/phpbb


I have not bothered cleaning up the main page, because I dont have the time. Once I am able to intergrate the forum into the Homepage, then we can test it out, etc. I am also thinking about adding a wikipedia page in it, but that will be for next week.

NOTE: please register on the homepage, as registrtion is disabled on the forums (your username, etc will be automatically transferred to the forum, and automatically logged in) (I hope)

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

Great! =] Thanks so much they look brilliant. If I get you a few links could you stick them in when you clean it up? Or if you like you could give me the log in info and I can help out with it, seeing as I probably have more time on my hands than you

[usif]

Um, yeah sure. I will PM you the user login, etc. Have you tested out the user bridging? encountered any sideaffects, etc?

As for putting time and effort into this...Is it worth it, if in the end we are just going to restart it and move it to a permanent server (We could move the whole database/s, but thats over my head ATM)

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

We don't really know yet if it'll be moved - we could always keep it anyway. kinda like USFIRST Forum vs CD
easy enough to just link to it from the main one

Whats the bet Aciid would know how to move it? :p

[usif]

We don't really know yet if it'll be moved - we could always keep it anyway. kinda like USFIRST Forum vs CD
easy enough to just link to it from the main one

Whats the bet Aciid would know how to move it? :p

A very high chance. if not, it only takes 30 minutes of google searches and 2 minute youtube video to find out how to do it.

If this is the case, then moving it to Aciid's server would be the best bet, and then we can later suss things out with Dr. Johan (which each and everyone one of NZ vex competitors owe our souls to) and buy a domain name. Something likewww.nzvex.co.nz

[aciid_trojan]

if you pm me details i can make wonderful things happen, right before your eyes.

in other words please give me something to do other than homework. kthx

[usif]

if you pm me details i can make wonderful things happen, right before your eyes.

What details do you need? Acess to the cpanel, etc?

[aciid_trojan]

well yeah i suppose, if you want me to pull it off there and put on one of my servers.

i dont trust free webhosts at all.

[Trueliez]

I'm not too good with databases and such, but if you want banners and graphics for the site let me know =]

[usif]

well yeah i suppose, if you want me to pull it off there and put on one of my servers.

i dont trust free webhosts at all.

Neither do I, I spent one hour trying to figure out as to why their servers suddenly went blank.

Ive pm'd you the stuff you need, and I explained to you that we might as well set everything up again (took me half an hour at the most)

as for GCEC gal'; we will use you Photoshop skills for good, soon I hope (before all of our mid years......)

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

Is it easier to set it all up on a free host then transfer or to go straight from aciid's server (can i call u by name?? usernames frustrate me ><)

if we're going straight from the server you guys will be teaching me how to help :P cos i'm really keen to be working on this thing haha! a moment of glory as our site becomes epic! (and you need someone to keep it going when u guys leave school :p)

and Giselle i'm sure ur banners will go down in history =]

[usif]

Is it easier to set it all up on a free host then transfer or to go straight from aciid's server (can i call u by name?? usernames frustrate me ><)

if we're going straight from the server you guys will be teaching me how to help :P cos i'm really keen to be working on this thing haha! a moment of glory as our site becomes epic! (and you need someone to keep it going when u guys leave school :p)

and Giselle i'm sure ur banners will go down in history =]

It would be much easier if we shift onto his server before we get to far in the experiment. Right now all we have are installed CMS and Forum with an addon. it'll take half an hour to set everything back up.

We will need to have an msn exchange, rather than using CD, simply because all of this can be marked as spam (I don't know how tough the mods are here...)

Im sure there will be a place for everyone to help in this project, keeping in mind we got it all set up in less than two days.....

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

I'll leave you two to do that part XD I know the database stuff but couldnt do it if my life depended on it

let me know when i can start helping to put in links and boards and make it pretty =] (sorry Josh i know how much you wanted to be the one prettyifying it)

and we're discussing NZ VEX :O how is it spam?

[aciid_trojan]

of course, i love prettyfying things :D but yeah, nearly done setting it all back up

then we need a domain name, but they are dirt cheap these days anyway

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

what? :O you don't get them free? ;)

[aciid_trojan]

unfortunately not :( only thing i cant ninja really :p

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

Lol XD
So how much is dirt cheap?

[aciid_trojan]

ignore me, getting on for free (well paid for by a friend <3), what domain name do we want?

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

Yay, Ninja'd again XD
Thank Shane for me (it's him right?)
errrmmmm...

[Trueliez]

Something likewww.nzvex.co.nz (http://www.nzvex.co.nz)

I second usif's suggestion

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

lol works for meh

[aciid_trojan]

well i got us www.nzvex.co.nz now i just need to set everything up ... again

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

ur epic Josh =]

Being dumped is so much less painful when it's done by a Ninja ;) :p

[usif]

Josh,your a legend! How much was the domain, did you need any of us paying for it?

BTW, give us the links to the forum aswell.

[aciid_trojan]

ill get round to doing the links in a minute.

the domain was only $30 so no hassle :)

[Rick TYler]

So... anyone going to post some video of the NZ tournament to a public video-hosting site?

[phr34kR]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx1oUgTDouM

Me (i blame the energy drinks)

[aciid_trojan]

i have a _lot_ of video sitting on my computer, when i get some spare time ill sort it our and upload it to youtube.

hopefully ill be able to do that this weekend

[AndyB]

I couldn't resist.

http://flowtv.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/robots.jpg

Gotta love FOTC.

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

OMG TIM LINKED THE VID HIMSELF!! XDXDXD
Love the photo too, I want one of them lol. My Hat is still cooler though XD

Josh ur epic =] but you so didn't pay for the domain haha. thank Shane for us all

I have vid footage too which will eventually find its way to youtube.

"Rarr!" lol

[aciid_trojan]

Ive already thanked him

[SCROSSLEY-GCEC]

Thank him again, you! XD
nah is all good.

Joshie! get off Delphi and back on NZ Vex! :D

[phr34kR]

Well judging by the number of views on this post i may as well add the link to this one as well, we now have a site dedicated to robotics in NZ check out www.nzvex.co.nz we still have to make it look pretty but its something we can all become a part of.