Possible Robot Show Idea?

[KenWittlief]

There have been several TV shows on robotic contests over the last few years. In my opinion most of them were unwatchable.

I think the thing about FIRST that is so engaging is that almost everyone on the team is involved in the design, fabrication and/or operation of the robot - Its a very-hands-on program.

Its interesting for us to see how other teams do things, to see what designs they have come up with because we live and breathe this stuff for 10 weeks or more each year

now heres the but part: A TV program? would your average TV viewer really be interested enough to tune in every week for 30 minutes or an hour?

I think the best we could hope for (to hold an average viewers attention) would be a 60 minute documentary - kinda like Nova use to do with the MIT engineering design contest that Dr Flowers held every year for his mechanical engineering students. Maybe we could have one program (one hour) like this each year?

[JaneYoung]

That is very cool!
What is the flooring? It almost looks like popcorn.

Originally Posted by artdutra04

Two years ago at BatleCry5 they had two of the original 1992 robots (current day teams 190 and 126) and an entire 1992 playing field to re-enact the 1992 game. Here are links to videos of the two matches they played:

Maize Craze - Match 1
Maize Craze - Match 2

And here were the results of those two matches:
http://www.wpi.edu/News/Events/Battl...004.html#maize

[artdutra04]

Originally Posted by Jane

That is very cool!
What is the flooring? It almost looks like popcorn.

It's corn kernals - the one and only year that carpet was not used at the primary flooring material on the playing field. Hence the name of the game, Maize Craze.

If you want to see more of the 1992 game, Koko Ed recently uploaded a documentary to Google Video about it. Here's the link:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...83057553890710

[Cactus_Robotics]

There is a robot show on DIY network called Robot Rivals don't know the exact show times i think its sat nights, you could check DIY website for times. But they have 2 college teams competed with a different task every week Ive see a few people on that have mentioned that they were involved in a nationwide robotics completion in high school but I don't think they ever mentioned FIRST specifically. Its a good show, definitely worth checking out.

[WernerNYK]

Originally Posted by Cactus_Robotics

There is a robot show on DIY network called Robot Rivals don't know the exact show times i think its sat nights, you could check DIY website for times. But they have 2 college teams competed with a different task every week Ive see a few people on that have mentioned that they were involved in a nationwide robotics completion in high school but I don't think they ever mentioned FIRST specifically. Its a good show, definitely worth checking out.

Ahhh, yes... Tim and I could tell you all about this show... Eh, Tim? I think Time may have even started designing wheels to throw poof balls for a robot that was supposed to be designed to cut grass!

[WernerNYK]

Originally Posted by Alex Cormier

I know that....
How many teams bring OLD robots to the new years games? none. So if you have some kind of show, you will see a huge variety of certain things like; drive trains, arms, gear boxes, etc.

Actually, we bring old robots to off-season events quite often, and I've seen a few other teams do it as well. We used our 2001 robot in the 2003 and 2004 game, and used our 2002 robot in the 2003 game. And just for kicks, we brought our 1992 robot to last year's River Rage becuase it was hosted at the same school as the official 1992 Championship event.

[Tim Baird]

Originally Posted by WernerNYK

Ahhh, yes... Tim and I could tell you all about this show... Eh, Tim? I think Time may have even started designing wheels to throw poof balls for a robot that was supposed to be designed to cut grass!

Oh man, Robot Rivals. That's a name I haven't heard in a bit. Yeah, Chris, Rick Petty, and I went down to Tennessee for a few days to build/compete/tape the show in the fall of 2003. It was pretty good overall. We lost due to a producer's call which was kind of lame, but, oh well. It was fun!

I have a pic of us with our mentor, Buzz Dawson (Battle Bots) and the robot that I'll put up soon.