Last month saw the first meeting of Brighton Robotics, a group organised by self-styled robochick, Emily Toop.

Around 25 people turned up for a meeting in the basement of the Skiff, and after a round of introductions, there was some wide-ranging discussion (how to control a robot using an iPhone's accelerometer, where to get laser cutting done locally, what's in store from the next-generation RepRap etc.)

Then it was on to the main attraction: playing with everyone's robots. Several people had brought their creations along to demonstrate, and the main themes seemed to be collision-avoidance, light-following and line-following. Bill Bigge from the University of Sussex's CCNR had brought along several range-finding robots, while Emily had a SumoBot and a strange flipping Turbot. There was also a fantastic set of retro-robots from the 80s provided by Steve Carpenter, including the Logo Turtle, controlled by an 80s-vintage BBC micro:

Given that I'm a big fan of the Arduino, I had hoped to see some bots that used it as a brain, and I wasn't disappointed: Steve had the beautifully-constructed 'RoundBot', complete with a backlit-LCD that told you what it was thinking (generally fairly simple thoughts such as "I've hit something with my left whisker; turning right..."):

And Thom Hopper had brought along a distance-sensing prototype he'd made out of an Arduino, IR-rangefinders, converted servos, and balsa wood:

You can read more about the event from Emily's blog post. Also see photos on Flickr or on the Brighton Robotics site.