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[DPRG] On contests
Subject: [DPRG] On contests
From: Kenneth Maxon
kmaxon at qwest.net
Date: Fri Jun 1 00:20:21 CDT 2007
To Randy's comments: I was inspired to build build build even though I was a
no-show and ended up being far from ready for this competition... "The Man"
stepped in and preempted my ability to complete in time, but that will leave
me the rest of the year to finish and be tuned in advance for next year.
More contests / less contests doesn't really come into play, it is the
existence of the contest that provides the opportunity.
Interesting observation about the SRS contests from my point of view. Big
contests with lots of vendors and tons of speculators are great for the
health of the club. In my opinion however, the better contests were those
held before the SRS stepped up to the Seattle Center exhibitions. Where
those who showed up and crowded the lines around competitions were people
with an actual interest in robotics. When one holds 5 events in a day and
everyone can have a front row or nearly front row seat and everyone present
has hands on or direct interaction with robotics the communications / ideas
/ interaction is much closer and more tight knit. The remaining events that
seem to bring the crowds repeatedly for the public events are sumo and
battle bots and pugetropolis area contests always seemed to have problems
getting a draw of new contestants for sumo. Grand Challenge is a different
story and just pulling it outside away from the bustle of the people waiting
to watch battle bots improves the event immensely.
David, I do have to second your comments on awards. I have a ribbon won at
an SRS even for best engineering in show from an SRS event. The fact that
they took the time to recognize my efforts present me with a ribbon, snap a
picture and post it on the web site for a year in front of my peers is a
very nice recognition. There are so many levels of robotics and so many
skill sets of individuals involved, it is important to carefully find a way
to recognize and reward effort across the field, not just the top 10%, the
people who have money to throw at it, the people who have time to throw at
it, or what ever advantages are out there. There are high school aged
individuals who build incredible robots, although simple by some standards,
it is important to recognize excellence at this level for their high
performance in their experience bracket. Just food for thought...
-Kenneth
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