[toastnbacon]

I enjoy it. It's not as cool as watching a FRC competition, but very little is. I'm really hoping it does well. While a little simplified for those of us who work with robots and (kinda) know what we're doing, it's enough to get the every day person interested in watching robots. TV can have a huge impact. The reason I'm a programmer is because of Code Lyoko (anyone remember that? Good times...). Now of course it's completely different than what we do, and doesn't seem to really have any application doesn't mean it's worthless. Who knows how many kids will see this and say "I want to know how to make that"? Those kids will grow up, hopefully see FIRST or some other robotics team at their school, and join up! We're already inspired, the focus should be on those who aren't, which this is. I'm actually surprised/proud of how technical they got.


That being said, I'm sure the sparks are staged at some level. I can't imagine that many robots that could have that kind of show coming from their electronics and continue to function like those do. Although they might have wiring specifically for the purpose of creating sparks when damaged...