China Robotics Challenge 2016

[Tom Ore]

We (525) are leaving in a few hours (2:30 AM) to head for Chicago and then the flight to Shanghai.

It looks like there will be about 26 Chinese teams there - mostly pre-rookies.

The international teams going are:

16 Mountain Home, Arkansas - Bomb Squad
148 Greenville, Texas - Robowranglers
341 Ambler, Pennsylvania - Miss Daisy
359 Waialua, Hawaii - Hawaiian Kids
525 Cedar Falls, Iowa - Swartdogs
694 New York, New York - StuyPulse
987 Las Vegas, Nevada - High Rollers
1538 San Diego, California - The Holy Cows
1595 Spokane, Washington - The Dragons
1690 Binyamina, HaZafon, Israel - Orbit
1772 Gravatai, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil - The Brazilian Trail Blazers
2468 Austin, Texas - Team Appreciate
4334 Calgary, Alberta, Canada - Alberta Tech Alliance (ATA)
4613 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia - Barker Redbacks
5800 Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil - Magic Island Robotics

There will be 2 workshop days (the 6th and 7th), the international teams are going sightseeing for 2 days while the pre-rookie teams finish their robots, the scrimmage is the 10th through the 13th.

Some teams (at least 525, 1538 and 2468) are going sightseeing in Beijing before returning home.

This will be my 4th trip to China with 525 and I always have a great time!

[TheBoulderite]

Wow! Great to see a lot of inspirational teams on this list! Enjoy China, and enjoy the scrimmage!

[Billfred]

The AndyMark contingent left yesterday morning and eventually got in the air. Have fun, y'all!

[Coach Seb]

that is so cool... what's your team budget for a trip like this?

Is there any grant or invitation to participate?

[Tom Ore]

We just got to our hotel - total travel time was about 26 hours for us. We met 4334 at the airport and rode a bus with them to the hotel.

I don't have exact details on cost so I probably shouldn't comment.

Here's a view out my hotel room window.

[Edxu]

Make sure to visit the Shanghai Centre Tower! I was in Shanghai two weeks ago seeing family, and we were unlucky when we went up because the weather was bad, but the view from the top of the tower is incredible on a good day.

They also have a ton of exhibits underneath the tower that talk about design challenges they faced and how they solved them, as well as cool features.

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by Coach Seb

that is so cool... what's your team budget for a trip like this?

Is there any grant or invitation to participate?

Our team got an invitation last year and subsequently this year.
This is truly a great experience for us as we work with the Chinese teams. They are enthusiastic and eager to learn and work.
The support and hosting by the CUYRA organization is phenomenal.

We also look forward to visiting several cities after the event in Xian and Bejjing, then Korea afterwards.

[bobbysq]

Is there going to be a stream? This looks like it'll be pretty competitive.

[Edxu]

Originally Posted by bobbysq

Is there going to be a stream? This looks like it'll be pretty competitive.

I would highly doubt it. Livestream/Twitch are iffy at best in China if not banned outright, and even if they find a website that they can stream from (billibilli and panda.tv come to mind), data coming through the Great Firewall tends to be a lot slower coming through, so resolution will probably suffer.

[mikexcao]

Well, if the competition is in the "Shanghai Free Trade Zone" they could potentially stream through Facebook or Periscope or even Twitch- the Chinese government relaxes the Great Firewall in the Free Trade Zone.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/chin...zone-1.1866688

[JB987]

We have not made plans to stream the event.

[Tom Ore]

We just got back from a 2 days of sightseeing while the new teams continued to work on their robots. Here's a pic I took at 4:30 AM yesterday from an overlook near our hotel.

Today most of us will go back to the workshop and help the new teams finish their robots. The key volunteers are going to the venue to help field setup.

The international teams unpack their robots starting at 7:00 PM tonight and practice day is tomorrow.

[Tom Ore]

Here's a pic of the hotel we stayed at while sightseeing. I took this pic from an overlook yesterday morning shortly after the sun rose.