Grant Imahara VEXplorer Robot Challenge

[Brandon Martus]

The folks at Robot Magazine sent us this:

We have just posted the Grant Imahara VEXplorer Robot Challenge at www.botmag.com, where students age 14 and up can compete for a $5,000 scholarship check. Students apply to be one of 25 contestants who will receive free VEXplorer kits for use in the challenge. The object is to creatively develop an interesting, unique application using just the components that come in this RC robot kit. Mythbuster Grant Imahara will pick the winners. Contest rules require posting of entries on YouTube, and creating the best videography of your robot in action will also be evaluated. The top winner will receive a $5,000 scholarship fund, 2nd place a $2,000 scholarship, and (10) runner-ups will get $200 gift certificates to vexlabs.com.

Any who wish to enter will first need to email a short description of their design concept—Grant Imahara and Robot magazine will pick the 25 contestants from these applications by March 24, and the winners will be picked by Grant Imahara in early June—they will be announced in the September-August 2008 issue of Robot magazine.

Details can be found here: http://botmag.com/articles/contest.shtml

[basicxman]

im under age and dont live in canada, i am really really sad

when i heard this i really really wanted to try this

[Cynette]

Originally Posted by basicxman

im under age and dont live in canada, i am really really sad

when i heard this i really really wanted to try this

Very confused! From the rules...

The Promotion is open to legal residents of the 50 United States with a valid email address, over the age of 14 at the time of entry ("Entrants").

What rules were you reading?

[lukevanoort]

I think Andrew actually lives in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, and the 'dont' is a typo.

[Cynette]

Ah, how very American of me to assume that it was one of the several Burlington's in the US!

[mplanchard]

SolidWorks provides some helpful sites to get you started in designing robots:

www.solidworks.com/vex

and

www.3dcontentcentral.com; keyword:vexplorer


Contest was open to US residents only due to legal reasons. International laws governing contests are very challanging.

Marie

[Alex Cormier]

Are we only allowed to use what comes in one kit and that's it?

anyone trying to go out for this?

[billbo911]

Originally Posted by Alex Cormier

anyone trying to go out for this?

I would love to, but there is one catch, I'm too old.

[i_am_samus]

Too old? I didn't realize there was an age limit. I applied for it, hopefully I get selected.

[basicxman]

Originally Posted by lukevanoort

I think Andrew actually lives in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, and the 'dont' is a typo.

yah sorry i meant to say dont live in the US not dont live in canada, oops!

and im underage lately ive been really hating age limits: web hosting, contests, adsense, other advertising programs, lots of other stuff

[Alex Cormier]

So I just received the email from the people doing the contest saying I was one of the 25 selected to do it. The kit will be mailed to me within a week and the dead line for the contest and you tube video of it working is June 1st. Also just stated in the email, I get an additional $100 to purchase anything form the vex site. wahoo!

here is my robot submission:

"Robots are becoming more a part of today's culture and are being integrated with everyday life. With that in mind, I present to you a modern twist on an everyday task. The robot will accomplish the task of playing fetch with a dog or even an enthusiastically active cat, while giving treats as a reward. The robot will be designed to pick up a ball with the supplied gripper and have a duel wheel launching system to fling the ball across the entire house or backyard. With the ball being launched far away from the robot, it makes sure the animal gets exercise and the joy of play time. When the ball has returned to the robot, via switch a treat could be dispensed rewarding the pet. The robot can be operated in a chair via a controller and use the camera system to locate the play toy along with the pet. The camera supplied in the kit would be used to locate missing balls once your pet losses interest and doesn't come back for that well deserved treat. This new way to play fetch with the family pet is especially useful to those who cannot walk, such as the elderly, or those with an injury or permanent disability. Solidworks will help greatly during the design process. I have experimented with the Solidworks program and other CAD software, and am excited to use Solidworks in the planning and building of a fun and easy to use robot which will play with the family pet. I have been involved in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) since 2003 and have built numerous robots in my life time. I am excited to have one of my innovative ideas come into being. I always try to come up with creative ways to conquer problems. I see not being able to play with your pet easily is a problem for both the human and animal. I believe that my idea is a great way to integrate robots into everyday life and is a progression towards more robots being used creatively to solve day to day problems."

[IndySam]

Way to go Alex!

[Rick TYler]

Congratulations!

[smartkid]

I'm one of the 25!

Dear Cody Smith,

Congratulations! You have been selected as one of the 25 contestants in the Grant Imahara VEXplorer Challenge. We received a wide variety of ideas and large number of applicants. We judged your idea to be one of the most interesting and compelling and welcome you to the competition.

We will ship a VEXplorer unit to you this week by UPS. If you do not receive it within a week, please contact...

Just got the e-mail today! So happy

Hello, my name is Cody Smith. I'll start with describing myself. I have always been interested in robotics and technology ever since I was a small child. I used to watch Battle Bots every day when I could until it stopped showing. I'm currently a Junior in high school attending Palm Bay high. I'm a member of the FIRST FRC robotics team number 2023 and the FIRST FTC team number 509. This year I lead our FTC team into the Florida regionals and placed 6th getting knocked out in the quarter finals. Our team did however win one of the six special judges awards. The Amaze award. For our omni-directional drive and our three point arm / manipulator. A picture of the O.R.C. or _O_mni-directional _R_obotics _C_law is attached to this e-mail. Our team is currently working on a bot to go to California for the Vex World Championship. We've handled all the Vex parts from the standard kit to Vexplorer's to the pneumatics. I also have done media work for a long time. I love media, Photoshop work, video editing work, etc. It's one of many things I like to do with my spare time on the computer and I have some pretty nice video editing software.

This competition to rebuild the Vexplorer is very interesting. we've already used the Vexplorer parts combined with regular Vex parts to build our three point arm but this limits the parts drastically. I do feel that it is more then possible to make something different out of those part though so here's my idea. The Vexplorer's best feature is it's ability to do recon. it's camera allows it to do so. But, it isn't all that versatile. My idea is to build a standard four wheel drive using two motors linked by the gears. And use the other two motors to make a separate pair of wheels on a rotateable axle. This would allow the Vexplorer to climb stairs, go over objects, etc. The overal purpose would be for extreme recon.

And yes, all 25 contestants get $100 to go shopping with on the vex site. Very, very cool.

[basicxman]

congrats to all it would be so cool if like half the people accepted were from CD