Now that's a Robot Show! "Robot Rivals"

[AJ Quick]

There is a new show on the Do-It-Yourself Network (http://www.diynet.com/) called "Robot Rivals". This show is amazing.. I am just watching the first episode tonight, and what they are doing is great. It is just like FIRST robotics...

Check out info here: http://www.nspe.org/etweb/14-03rivalrobots.asp

They use IFI Issac 32 Systems, Victors, CIM Motors, Bosch, and a bunch of other parts that appear in our kit of parts. They get 8 hours to do a build a robot to do a specific thing (like Junkyard Wars), then they go on if they win in a ladder style competition. They have to do the things FIRST does, program, design, build test.. but they don't have the comfort of the 6 weeks.

This is seriously the first Robotics show I've liked for a long time. Tell me what you think.. if you have seen it or whatnot. This is a great show, too bad it is on such a unknown network.

Next airings:

Sun 20 6:00 PM
Fri 25 8:00 PM
Fri 25 11:00 PM
Sat 26 9:00 PM
Sun 27 12:00 AM
Sun 27 6:00 PM
Fri 2 8:00 PM
Fri 2 11:00 PM
Sat 3 9:00 PM
Sun 4 12:00 AM
Sun 4 6:00 PM

[Jeff Waegelin]

Sounds cool. I'll have to check it out next time it's on.

[Andy Baker]

I've not seen it yet, but I hear that the FIRSTers from Purdue (Westside Boiler Invasion - team 461) are kicking some major 'bot in this competition.

Also... I hear that they are the only FIRST-experienced people in the competition, so we can all pull for them.

Go WBI!!

Andy B.

[Joe Matt]

Interseting. What type of challanges are these? Like Junkyard or more like FIRST?

[Jeff Waegelin]

Grrr... I looked at my channel listings, and I don't even get the channel that it's shown on.... boo!

[AJ Quick]

Originally posted by JosephM
Interseting. What type of challanges are these? Like Junkyard or more like FIRST?

The one I saw, was to make a robot that can pick up a small soccer ball, and shoot it into a goal. It is a cross between FIRST and Junkyard Wars. They get a kit of parts, and a common household item to turn into their robot.

[DougHogg]

From

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/04/11/WB149837.DTL&type=printable

San Francisco Chronicle
Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writer
What happens to FIRST Robotics Competition veterans after they graduate from high school? They launch their television careers, of course.
...

The latest robotics program is "Robot Rivals" on the Do It Yourself Network (available on some digital cable networks, DirecTV and DISH Network). It features three UC Berkeley students -- seniors Eric Park and Daniel Lehrbaum, and first-year graduate student Bharathmwaj Muthuswamy -- facing students from 13 other colleges for bragging rights.

Most robotics competitions aren't made for TV. According to David Calkins, president of the Robotics Society of America, based in San Francisco, about 400 people in the Bay Area compete in dozens of robotics tournaments locally and around the country. "San Francisco probably has the most roboticists per square foot in the country," Calkins said.

They include Park, who grew up in Millbrae, and Lehrbaum, who grew up in Palo Alto and plays on Cal's club ice hockey team. The two are old rivals from FIRST competitions. The producers of "Robot Rivals" found them through Professor Ron Fearing's mechatronic design class.

[AJ Quick]

Has anyone been watching this show?

It is great! It gives me a FIRST fix every week.

[WernerNYK]

Excellent show. Now if only I could figure out how they determined which schools to choose for the show, and hope that they produce a second season, hopefully with WPI included this time :D

[Dallin]

One of the two advisors is a friend of mine. I think the way it basically works is you email him and ask to be on the show. Me and two other friends will be representing FIU probably in the next season, which should be pretty cool. All three of us have done FIRST since 1999 and I have done Battlebots IQ since 2000. It should prove interesting. PM me and I could probably get you in contact with him, I dont have his card on me right now but I'll give you a link to his website. http://www.teamdavinci.com/ (Team Davinci Robotics) , just look for Brett "Buzz" Dawson, hes the crazy bald guy =)

Also for an episode list of season 1 and what "competition" they did, check out http://www.teamdavinci.com/robot_rivals.htm

[KelliV]

Robot Rivals kicked off its 2nd season within the last 2 months! There are still reruns of both seasons on just about once a week! It's the best robotics show I've see on TV in a few years!

[Kevin Watson]

One of the two advisors is a friend of mine. I think the way it basically works is you email him and ask to be on the show. Me and two other friends will be representing FIU probably in the next season, which should be pretty cool. All three of us have done FIRST since 1999 and I have done Battlebots IQ since 2000. It should prove interesting. PM me and I could probably get you in contact with him, I dont have his card on me right now but I'll give you a link to his website. http://www.teamdavinci.com/ (http://team%20davinci%20robotics/) , just look for Brett "Buzz" Dawson, hes the crazy bald guy =)

Also for an episode list of season 1 and what "competition" they did, check out http://www.teamdavinci.com/robot_rivals.htm
Buzz' e-mail address is buzz <commercial at sign> teamdavinci.com. I was a judge at the last BattleBotsIQ competition and got to hang-out with Buzz, which was a lot of fun. It was clear to me that Buzz is very, very serious about teaching engineering through robotics.

-Kevin

[Bcahn836]

i thought the show was great. It really reflects what we really do. However we have more time to build. But alot of the designs these teams come up with are amazing.

[Nathan Pell]

This is a great show, and lucky for our team, Buzz Dawson (one of the hosts) lives right down the street from out team.

The show has been on for two seasons now.. and last I heard from Buzz they had not told him whether or not there was goign to be a third season.

It is a great show though.

Nathan Pell

[Aignam]

And we all thought 6 weeks was too short!

[Joe Ross]

If you don't want to wait to see how Lehrbaum's team does, you can read this: http://www.coe.berkeley.edu/forefront/fall2003/robot.html

[Greg Needel]

i think we need to get an RIT team in there for season three :D

[ahecht]

I'll let Chris (WernerNYK) post his experience appearing on the show, but the gist of it is that most of the stuff they filmed was staged, the robots were pre-built when they arrived (they dissasembled and reassembled them for the camera, and made duplicates of parts), and, at least in the episode with the WPI team, the "winner" was decided arbitrarily.

[Moebius]

Yes, the bots were prebuilt, but to the design of the teams. We did this because each episode is literally filmed in one day. Unfortunately, we found out early on that not every team that shows up is capable of building a robot on their own much less do it in five hours. Therefore, to save costs, Brian and I would prebuild each bot just prior to the teams arriving.

As some of you have noted, Robot Rivals is on a relatively unknown station and therefore didn't get the widespread recognition that it was capable of. It now seems that the network has decided not to renew the show for another season. It was fun while it lasted.

If any of you come down to the Southeast regionals then you will probably see me and my bald head behind the microphone arenaside :-D

Brett "Buzz" Dawson