About the SRS
since Page last updated on 6/20/26
The Seattle Robotics Society was formed in 1982 to gather and serve those interested in building robots and learning about the associated technologies. The Society is a club incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit entity consisting of a diverse group of engineers, programmers, technologists, and tinkerers. Our collective passion is to learn about robots through educational activities, through building interesting machines, and to freely share our skills and knowledge with this community through meetings, workshops, contests, outreach events, online activities, and mentoring. We enjoy meeting new people interested in robotics for whatever reason.
One great way to learn about the Society is to join our monthly online meetings. They happen via Zoom so this is an easy way to attend without geographical limitations. Since we started doing online meetings, we have been recording them for our Youtube channel since May 2020 and have had regular attendees from all over the country and presentations from all over the world. Robotics is a great way to connect.
If you are interested in donating financially to the SRS, we can accept donations using the PayPal app at PayPal@SeattleRobotics.org.
New to Robotics?
We hope that we can help you on your journey to build your own robot. Several of our members have put together information about some options.
There are now so many more ways to get started with robotics now compared to a couple decades ago. How you approach this challenge depends on how much you think you can do yourself and how much you want to purchase off-the-shelf. There are kits available that allow as little or as much effort as you want to put into the various elements of a robot. Some come ready-to-go right out of the box while others require some assembly before you can begin using them, but are pre-programmed. Still others may require extensive assembly and programming, but result in more sophisticated and capable machines when complete. In most cases, once the kits are built, they will have built-in software to make the robot do something. Robot kits capable of many functions are available online, and most offer fairly quick ways to get something running quickly, but that pre-designed functionality also steers the robot in the direction chosen by the designers and may have pre-defined limitations. Sometimes less personal creativity enables quicker and easier progress towards a working robot. The choices are yours to make depending on how you like to roll.
Build it with Arduino Meetup Group
The latest outreach activity by the SRS is a Meetup Group called “Build it with Ardiuno” or “Start-up with Arduino” intended to gather folks interested in using Arduino controllers to build things. This is a friendly group, designed to build a group of Arduino enthusiasts. All skill levels welcome. The monthly virtual events will include instruction and may have a focused project for that meeting plus Q&A followed by Workshop build time. This group will meet online via Zoom and recordings will be posted on Youtube after the meetings.
SRS Workshop Robots
The SRS has a couple good starter kit robots that try to balance pre-designed functionality with builder creative license. Consider the following: Whether you’re just getting started in robotics or just want to learn about more advanced topics, the SRS Workshop Robots are great choices. These basic kits enable you to explore robot design, construction, and programming within a well-documented learning environment. These kits are not sold as presented apart from our club or on our website. They are customized for the SRS and heavily discounted to encourage the beginner, and to promote the mission of the Society to help people build robots. Purchasers of the kits are encouraged to share what they’re doing with them at meetings and participate in contests. Bring them to monthly online meetings and ask for help if you need it.
The Boe-bot Arduino UNO kit is simple, easy to build, and available for purchase via cash, check, or card that uses one of the most popular processors in the world. The kit comes with wonderfully detailed, printed manual walking you through everything from opening the box to complete programming of the robot to use all the included sensors, so you can be productive in between workshops.
The second kit we offer is an eight-core Propellor Chip-based robot called the Activitybot, also available for purchase via cash, check, or card. It also comes with a very detailed electronic (not printed) manual. This kit is great for folks interested in something more sophisticated than an single-core Arduino UNO-based robot. This kit supports true multi-tasking software, comes with two 360-count-per-revolution wheel encoder-servos, an array of other special sensors, and uses BlocklyProp for programming (based on Scratch).
The Encoder
The Encoder is the Newsletter of the Seattle Robotics Society. We hope you find it informative and useful. It is interesting to see how the technology of this hobby has changed over the years. We’re sorry it hasn’t been updated for a while, but even though technology and robotics evolve rapidly, many things don’t change much. People seem to be quite busy and prefer building robots rather than writing articles about them. If you are interested in writing something that you believe would be helpful or interesting to our members, we would love to talk to you about publishing it in the Encoder. Contact us at SeattleRoboticsSociety(at)gmail.com, Subject: Encoder Article. Just create a PDF file of your article and we can drop it right in. Here’s a link to our writer’s guide to help you get started.
For some historical perspectives on hobby robotics, we have scanned and posted some pre-Internet issues of the original Encoder magazine from one member’s stash. Check these out for some SRS history and to see how far robotics has come since the club started.
Robothon
Robothon is the Seattle Robotics Society’s signature public event where we show off our robots and get to talk to lots of people about robotics. Robothon usually happens at the Seattle Center Armory in the fall, is free and open to the public, and is filled with exciting competitions, continuous floor demonstrations, interesting displays, and lots of people to answer questions about the SRS and robots. Between Robothons we sometimes have “Special Contest Days” featuring some of the typical Robothon contests. Watch the SRS homepage and visit the Robothon website for event details and contest rules.
SSomething we did a few times during the shutdown to get technical information out there were these online technical presentations that we called Virtual Robothon Exhibitions. You can check videos of these past events. We will do these virtual events as long as there are interested presenters available.
FIRST Washington
FIRSTWA is an amazing, energetic organization dedicated to exposing kids to the exciting possibilities of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) wrapped together in robotics. Its primary focus is to provide opportunities for young people in Washington state to participate in the four programs (FLLE, FLLC, FTC, FRC) and compete in contests developed by FIRST.
