SORSA - Southern Oregon Robotics Society of America

SORSA encourages all of its members to get involved in robot competitions for three very good reasons. First, competitions provide incentives and deadlines to keep you moving forward in your robotics projects. Second, competitions provide a way for our club members to interact with members of other clubs, both locally and worldwide. Third, the prizes up for grabs are usually substantial and the odds of winning are high in many events due to the low number of entries. Many prizes have been won merely by default because of the lack of competitors. So, choose a few categories from the descriptions below and get started building your competition robots.

UPCOMING COMPETITIONS

Friday, June 12th - Sunday, June 14th - RoboGames at Fort Mason in San Francisco
RoboGames (formerly ROBOlympics) is the largest robot competition and Expo in the United States. For more information, or to order tickets for this event, click here. For a list of competitions at this year's RoboGames, click here. If there is enough interest in attending this event, SORSA will arrange transportation and housing. Send us an e-mail at sorobotics@sorsa.org if you would like to attend this event with us.

COMPETITION DESCRIPTIONS

Listed below are descriptions of only a few of the most common competitions. Each robotics event will have its own list of competitions.

B.E.A.M.
The word "beam" in BEAM robotics is an acronym for Biology, Electronics, Aesthetics, and Mechanics. This is a term that refers to a style of robotics that primarily uses simple analogue circuits, such as comparators, instead of a microprocessor in order to produce an unusually simple design (in comparison to traditional mobile robots) that trades flexibility for robustness and efficiency in performing the task for which it was designed.

Being focused on "reaction-based" behaviors, BEAM robotics attempts to copy the characteristics and behaviors of natural organisms, with the ultimate goal of domesticating these "wild" robots. BEAM robotics also promotes the value of aesthetics in the design of the device, proving the adage "form follows function". BEAM competitions include Speeder (Rules) and Photovore (Rules).