"Out of the box" Exhibition

[Natchez]

What about an Out-of-the-box Exhibition for first-regional teams? With all of the recent "practice/no-practice" and "one-regional/multi-regional" discussion, why not come up with an awarded activity to show how well the team robot builders did in the 6-week period. Maybe a "You did it in 6 weeks" Award ... obviously called the Magnolia Efficiency Award. If you awarded a slot at the Championships for the winner, you would have a lot of folks trying to ship a running 'bot. Here would be a typical schedule at a regional.

Thursday of regional:

7:00 am: All crates are lined up behind the playing field

7:15 am: Teams take their 'bots out of the box and load the battery

7:15 am: Two at a time (one on each end), the teams take the field for 2 minutes and show what their 'bot can do out of the box. This will also be a chance for the regional to check-out and troubleshoot the field. With 40 first-regional teams, this will take about 40 teams /2 at-at-a-time x 5 minutes per exhibit (2 min run + 3 min set-up) = 100 minutes. Basically, everyone would be done by 9:00.

After exhibition - about 9:00 am: Multi-regional teams can get their robots from the field.

9:00 on: Business as usual

What do you think? I bet the stands would be full of people who wanted a first-look at everyone's creations. Also, this would be a great time to scout.

Just an idea,
Lucien