DPRG mailing list archives: [DPRG] Mini Sumo Contest - Open - Ship-IN at UNI April 26th

Thu Apr 12 17:09:55 CDT 2007

Hi Guys, 

Just two weeks away! UNI is again hosting the annual Ship-In
Mini Sumo contest. This is the second annual. Send your robot to
town to compete with others. If you want in, sign up now! The
future of Mini Sumo competition is at hand, and we should have
even better video equipment with live webcast this year. 

Last year we had one Ship-In, plus our students. Our students
showed them to be fairly tough competitors, and now they've got
big heads. Since the class runs every other year, we have lost
some students to graduation and jobs, and a few will be back to
compete. We already have a couple Ship-In's, so more than last
year, but overall it looks like a light field this year. With
total competitors down, your odds are good for winning. What an
opportunity for bragging rights! Please, this year, all you guys
who thought about entering should actually enter, and do it
soon! Just two weeks to go! 

What better example of showing your robots have matured, than
you send them off to compete in a contest on their own, and then
watch the Live Webcast as they "duke it out" with other robots
from across the country (or the world? Yes, at least one
international competitor). Last year, we had over a hundred live
viewers including a dozen different countries looking on. The
room is beautiful, and the video production quite professional.
So this really has the potential of growing
into a very significant robot event. 

Following below are details from the sponsor.

Randy

We have reserved the Great Reading Room in Seerley Hall for 8 am
to Noon, Thursday, April 26, for the "Second UNI Mini-Sumo
Robotics Challenge."   [This was where we held the event last
year.]  Updating what we sent out last year:

The 2007 Mini-Sumo Robotics Challenge--hosted by the University
of Northern Iowa Physics Department

1.  The Second UNI Mini-Sumo Robotics Challenge will accept a
maximum of 12 robots from outside UNI for the April 26 event.
Those wishing to enter should e-mail Cliff Chancey at
c.chancey at uni.edu.  He will validate their entry within 24
hours, or let them know that the challengers have already been
selected.  Those selected will receive shipping information.

2.  There will be a $20 entry fee.  Checks or money orders
should be made out to "UNI Physics Department" and included in
the submission. (Covers return postage, etc.)

3.  The UNI Physics Dept. will return-mail each of the 12
challenger robots to their owners using the packing materials
that the robots arrived with, where possible.  The Department
will make a good faith effort to return all robots in operating
condition but we cannot guarantee this.  We will use proper
carriers (US Postal Service, Fedex, or similar) but this is the
extent of our promise.  Challengers must accept the normal risks
of shipping sensitive equipment.