From the original thread posted on 9/26/04, I now add the following thoughts:
1) Look at the original photo
AGAIN. The BIGGER tank is actually our rookie robot coming after yours (ha, ha). Oh, ok that's not part of "gracious professionalism....."
2) Since I work for a military contractor, so thoughts about what makes a FIRST robot different than a military robot:
---In the military, the robots are called UGVs (unmanned ground vehicles) and are used for cave exploration, urban combat in buildings, etc.
---In FIRST, you know exactly what the "battlefield" looks like; UGVs don't have that luxury and have to "feel" their way along uncharted territory. Glad you don't have to do that programming?
---In FIRST, you know exactly who and where your "enemy" is. Combat UGVs don't have that luxury. Anything can happen at any time.
---In FIRST, your robot can't be offensively "shot at". In a combat UGV, the vehicle has to be both offensive and defensive. Weighs a lot more than 100 lbs too.
---In FIRST, you have a predefined mission (grab & stack tetras). In a combat UGV, you may receive new instructions in real-time which changes the robot's mission
---In FIRST, nobody will be jamming your wireless radio transmission to the robot. In combat, you have to assume that you will be jammed.
---In FIRST, you have minimal feedback from the robot (feelers, touch plates, streaming video). In combat, your robot will indeed be OUT OF SIGHT all the time. Makes for a fun video gaming exercise.
Lastly, war robots and war in general is NOT fun. In FIRST, make sure you have FUN......and pray for the soldiers and robots that are fighting around the world for us.