There has been a lot of talk in the rumor mill about what IT/ginger will be. Regardless of what IT is, there will be a lot of media attention brought to Dean Kamen over the next week. If it is something of major significance to the future of the world, then there will likely be a lot of interest into Kamen himself. I wonder if this would also bring attention to FIRST… Might people and the media start to get what FIRST is all about? Perhaps not, but it will be interesting to see how FIRST fits in with all this over the next couple months. Will Kamen try and use this opportunity to talk to media about FIRST? How do you all think FIRST will be influenced by the revealation of IT? I definately don’t see anything bad coming out of it.
Dean himself has long been an advocate for us, the members of FIRST, to make the organization known to people. With all the media coverage he will surely get on monday, and in the following days with interviews that will surely take place, I expect to see Mr. Kamen give FIRST several plugs. In addition, many reporters will surely try to get an idea of what he does, and FIRST would more than likely show up in their research. The added publicity, I agree Patrick, could bring nothing but good - be it something as simple as making more people aware of FIRST or even in the form of sponsorship from a major company.
It is a good reporter’s job to get the background on Dean, not his job to go to an interview trying to throw in plugs for FIRST. Hopefully this will happen, otherwise it will look like Dean is shamelessly plugging FIRST and trying to find away to get press from Battlebots. Does this make sense to you guys?
I am pretty sure IT’s design and the challenge it is supposed to solve will be part of games in the future, just like how the I-bot is part of 1999 and 2001.
Well, I’ve heard that the same year as the IBOT made its debut the gyroscopes were introduced into the kits of parts. If IT uses a stirling motor then they may show up in the kit of parts soon if not this year. Just a thought
No im pretty sure they had the yaw rate sensors pre I-BOT.
*Originally posted by Andrew Rudolph *
**No im pretty sure they had the yaw rate sensors pre I-BOT. **
yes we had them in '99 before I-Bot was announced, but definetly not before it was in development.
I found it amusing on GMA (yeah, I was late to work to watch it!) - that when the comment was made on Dean’s briefcase on the Segway, he claimed it was a regular briefcase because he doesn’t travel anywhere without his FIRST literature 
And it was a nice move passing it off as well.
~ lora
I can see all the publicity, whether to FIRST or not, will do either two things… Either get more attention, or ■■■■ many, many people off… That’s about the only thing the media is good at… The fact is that Dean will more than likely bring FIRST up as background info, it is a big part of what he’s done for the future of this country and definately worth mentioning… As for drawing attention away from Battlebots, I highly doubt it will happen… Every time I’ve had to explain what FIRST is, I’ve found the way most people understand it is to compare it to Battlebots, if that is possible… My thoughts are that things are gonna either blow up into a media-frenzy, or just be business as normal… I’m sure we’ve all seen people criticizing(sp?) Dean for his promotion of FIRST, but who cares?? Dean will be Dean, and FIRST will always be the future of robotic competitions… We Americans are fickle, and sooner or later we will get tired of mindless violence… Hopefully sooner than later…
"Indeed, the hype got Kamen in trouble. According to Kamen, half of the meeting with Jobs and Bezos was about FIRST – though obviously not the half that made it into the proposal. By Kamen’s lights, he was meeting with Jobs and Bezos in order to get their help with FIRST; IT was secondary, “coffee table” conversation. "
From this article: http://stearneonline.com/ginger/overdoingit.htm
Dean was happy to hand out FIRST litterature on the GMA interview too 
He obviously has as much fun as we do with FIRST. I am pleased to see his devotion to FIRST, as well as his willingness to make it known. As for the affects of IT on FIRST, I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t be suprised to see an IT or 2 on the kickoff. Its a stretch, but maybe even available for rental at Nats :). Thats just my crazy wishful mind getting away from me again though.
I can’t even begin to imagine how much fun they could be as a rental device… I think I’m gonna start salivating in potential expectation of riding one, even for just a minute or two…
Of course, seeing a whole fleet of Segways running through Disney… Now that will be a sight to behold…