[Andy Baker]

John,

Your blog has been an inspiration to me all year long. I look forward to reading new posts, and seeing things from your insight. Your openness and honesty along with your technical insight are models for all of us to follow. Thank you.

You mentioned that some teams say hurtful things about other teams. I agree.

I worked as an inspector on Wednesday and Thursday in Galileo, and I got to hear some comments from some teams about other teams (148 was not involved). A lead student and I had an interesting conversation after this student briefly saw another team's robot come up to the inspection table.

Lead student: "no way that's built by the students"
Me: "how do you know that?"
Lead student: "it looks wonderful"
Me: "It's amazing how a combination of simple engineering and powder coating can make someone think that no students are involved in the build. I know people on that team, and I know that students are very involved."
Lead student: "yeah, powder coating does make it look great - you're probably right"

I truly believe that I saw no robots this year that had no students involved in the build or design of the robot.

Please keep this up, John.

Andy B.