Clarification/correction on this line in the article:
Two robots have thrown first pitches at Philadelphia Philly games but they were made by University of Pennsylvania students and one used the chassis of a Segway, said Eli Bayless, promotions director for the Detroit Tigers.
The Segway-based robot as indeed built by University of Pennsylvania students. The other, a HUBO, came from Drexel University’s Autonomous Systems Laboratory.
Haven’t seen video yet, but The Detroit Free Press put up another article, with a gametime picture. They described the pitch as a “44 MPH fastball low and outside.” There was also an article from Wired.
It was great to see this out on the field. It was also good to see the display set up in the stadium, with local robots showing their stuff with last years game. I was a little disappointed to find out that it was not actually televised live. It is also a little disappointing that the article is in such an obscure spot on the MSN page.
Thanks to the teams, students and mentors that made this happen.
I was out to eat with a friend of mine and she noticed the game on. She didn’t ask what the score was or what inning it was; she simply said “Oh crap I missed it… There was supposed to be a robot throwing the first pitch and I wanted to see it!”
She didn’t know that I was involved in FIRST (or what it was at the time) and doesn’t pay attention to the news or cared about anything school related. This is proof enough for me that the event had a HUGE impact.
While I don’t know how much attention it got outside of SE Michigan, it definitely made an impact way larger than I personally expected here. Two thumbs way way up for 503 and everyone else who was involved with the event!!
Oh and it was shown twice during the game by FSD, but not live.