Inspiration, Ideation & Copying

[wireties]

I tell the students we are not inventing the wheel but learning how the wheel works and perhaps make a little custom improvement here and there.

Our team has no ME mentors that can be here more than a couple times during the build season. We have some wonderful young EE mentors and couple grey-haired EE mentors (me included). So we have real trouble coming up with innovative mechanical solutions (programmers with screwdrivers etc). I try to thank 148 when we see them at regionals and we are loyal local-pickup VexPro customers. But I would be remiss if I did not call out and thank JVN, Aren Hill and the RoboWranglers for all of their ideas we reuse every year. Our pickup this year is like a pickup we did several years ago but it was inspired by a 148 pickup years before. And we are using the choo-choo cam this year - we were lucky enough to be on the Winnovation 2008 alliance in Colorado and were impressed with both Aren and his design.

So thanks to JVN, Aren Hill and the rest of the RoboWranglers! They are the epitome of gracious professionalism. FYI - we have some deep VxWorks (15+ years teaching for Wind River), C++ and electrical expertise if you ever need help (unlikely I know).

Kind Regards.

[bEdhEd]

Yup. I agree that most ideas are not "original" and are composed of pieces from existing ideas.

Like I've said in a thread before about 701's ballista/crossbow style launcher, I got that idea from the human launcher in the "Wipeout Zone" obstacle course on the ABC show "Wipeout," and it wasn't and idea that I came up with all on my own.

There's another reason why the I in FIRST stands for Inspiration.