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[DPRG] Can-Can Rules
Subject: [DPRG] Can-Can Rules
From: Alan Bredon
alan at quizbot.com
Date: Tue Sep 11 21:27:12 CDT 2001
I agree most heartily with David's assessment that robot contests distract us to
the entertainment business instead of the practice of science. Toys are nice
but real world engineering is more fun .......to an engineer.
Alan
"David P. Anderson" wrote:
>
...
> </mount_soapbox>
>
> Most folks who become involved in hobby robotics start off with visions
> of R2D2 and C3PO, perhaps fetching a beer from the fridge or answering
> the doorbell. In any case, operating and interacting in the same living
> and working spaces as the local human population. Robot contests are
> offered as an intermediate step to get us there.
>
> But in practice robot contests, in my only-moderately-humble opinion,
> almost always work against the development of real-world practical robots.
>
> Robot contests tend to produce specialized clever solutions for the given
> task at hand. They do no produce general purpose robots that can survive
> in the real world, outside the pristine environment of the contest course
> and it's artificial requirements.
>
> They also put us in the entertainment business. I've seen this at work
> both in the DPRG and with the Seattle Robotics folks. Certain events
> which might be quite useful to the robot builders are scratched from the
> contest because "the audience became bored." So we put ourselves in the
> business of keeping a lay audience entertained. I have found that often
> to be at cross-purposes with the development of functional robotics.
> The nuts and bolts of science and engineering are usually boring for non-
> scientists and non-engineers.
>
> I'd like to see us concentrate less on contest rules and contests in
> general, and more on general purpose robots that can successfully navigate
> through the bedroom of an average 16-year old.
>
> <dismount_soapbox\>
>
> my $.03 worth,
> dpa
...
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