Jeff B., Corey, Mouse, and yours truly are staffing the VCFed booth at World Maker Faire this weekend. They said we're in a tent this year. That is all I know for now, location-wise. Our theme is the same as at HOPE -- vintage computer robots. Jeff is showing an improved version of his Capsella robot controlled by a BASIC program on a Commodore 64. He has many more parts available now than he did for HOPE. I'm showing a Lego robot powered by a LOGO program on an Apple //e, vs. at HOPE my Lego demonstration used BASIC on a Compaq 386 luggable (in the form of a Network General Sniffer). By coincidence, Jeff's robot and mine are both car-like and they're both around the same size. So let me just say: MY LEGOBOT CAN KICK BRACE'S CAPSELLABOT'S BUTT. :) Here's mine: http://vcfed.org/evan/legobot.jpg I figured a black frame, red racing stripe, and huge rear spoiler all give it maker-cred. One motor controls forward/backward, another motor (via the exposed chain drive up front on the left side of your screen) controls steering, there is a touch/bump sensor on front, a light sensor in back, and working head/tail lights. I need to put a little Lego dude and steering wheel in the cockpit! Of course, the point of this is to show people (mostly children) that Lego computerized robotics are not a modern invention, but in fact existed 30 years ago. LOGO works like BASIC -- you can type a program and run it instantly (no compiling) or type commands directly. But in most ways it's even more basic than BASIC. Instead of FOR-NEXT loops you have REPEAT; instead of GOSUB you have LIST-TO-RUN; there aren't line numbers; and I'm trying to understand their oddly formatted IF-THEN method (which is also called something else; I forget what right now). Maybe I'll disable the front bump sensor and program the 'bot to go full speed into BraceBot. :) All in good fun, of course. Hope to see many of you this weekend.