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[DPRG] On contests
Subject: [DPRG] On contests
From: Pete Miles
robots at walkingrobots.com
Date: Fri Jun 1 02:39:53 CDT 2007
Contests are a double edge sword
On one side they provide a specific objective for the builder to avhieve.
One the otherside, the different contests out there represent a tiny portion of all the different types of robotics
which can divert people away from these areas.
On side robots can be extremely expensive, but very cool.
On the other side, robots can be very inexpensive, but less functional.
On one side having public contests catches the attention of new people to see that science and engineering can be a lot
of fun.
On the other side public contests are observed by people that are negative and don't care about robots.
On one side private club contests are filled with like minded people that are really interested in robots.
On the other side, this is exclusionary to a select few.
On one side, awards recognize people for their achievements
On the otherside, awards require some form of a revenue source.
On the one side, robotics is hard.
On the other side, robots teach you more about reality than college will ever teach.
On the one side, multiple contests in a year allows people more opportunities to run their robots.
On the otherside, it burns out the people running the multiple events.
On one side a once a year contest is more manageable by the volunteers
On the otherside, you only get to run your robot once a year.
And on, and on, and on....
One thing for sure, reguardless of what happens, who shows up, how many robots are there, there are people that are just
not happy about what goes on and wish things were different.
The way I look at it, if you got a group of people willing to put in the hours to put on a contest, let them. Who wants
to compete, let them. Choose the contests based on what people are willing to participate in. If you have a contest
idea where only 2 people are interested in, and people willing to do the work in hosting it, let them. It will either
grow, remain the same, or go away when the people running the contest gets tired of it.
Complaints does one thing, causes the people that run the events to become less motivated. And if no one steps in after
they quit, then there are no more contests. Then people will complain that there are no contests, until someone steps
up to do the work, and the cycle repeats.
There are many reasons people don't show up for a contest. Do you remember the reason why you didn't show up the last
event you weren't at. We all have reasons why we don't do things, and why we do things.
Just some random thoughs,
Pete Miles
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