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NASA Robots Beat Each Other Up
Shturmovik[KGB] writes ""Let's get ready to rumblllllllllllllle!"
On Saturday night NASA is webcasting the big robot fight. A total of 49 machines, constructed by 2,000 high school students, will battle it out at the LA Arena. Should be good. Be there! You can watch it on the
JPL website"
*shrug* NASA TV was running some battlebots-ish stuff a few weeks ago during the day. Students had robots that had to pick up some big beach balls and carry them around on a field. A non-violent variant (though the things did trip over a few times..)
They might not run this, though, since the Shuttle is up right now..
--
They aren't NASA robots, they are FIRST robots. What's FIRST? FIRST stands for "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology"
The robots in the competition are made by kids (not NASA scientists).
FIRST is an organization funded (and founded) by Dean Kamen. Kamen is a genius inventor. A profile of him is on the FIRST web site here. His company, DEKA, is the one making the so-called 'IT', or 'Ginger' (that scooter thingy).
You should never take life too seriously - You'll never get out of it alive.
Actually, we have seen it before, but it's http://www.usfirst.org
---- Dave
Yep... I was watching too... then we lost sound, video, and now we're on board the shuttle...
The winning robot gets an all-expenses paid trip to Valles Marineris, Mars to beat the crap out of Elvis.
"Dude! NASA's doing RobotWars! I got $5 on the Martian Pathfinder!"
"RobotWars/BattleBots/CowboyNeal is much cooler than this and here is a link cause I'm karma whoring."
"RobotWars/Battlebots is way better than RobotWars/Battlebots!"
"This is actually the FIRST competition and is a NASA-funded educational program. The focus of this competition is not to break the other robots (which is actually against the rules), but to score points by putting balls into goals"
"Robots+destruction=bad"
"Robots+destruction=good"
"All your bots are belong to us"
Do not taunt Happy-Fun Ball
http://www.battlebots.com/
Despite what the incredibly uninformative story says, this is not a competition for destruction. In fact, it is a task-based competition. in this case, they are trying to get balls into goals and then move the goals around for points. Very fun.
The link for the video seems to be working now. All it seems to say is:
Coming Up:
JPL Robotic Competition
11:00 AM CST
LA, California (or something like that)
then
Stand by to satelite switch California...
If your cable company carries the NASA Channel (I don't think that is the official name), which many do, it is being broadcasted live on it.
There was a good thread on this competition a while ago at Half-Empty titled FIRST 2001 Strategies.
Tell me what makes you so afraid
Of all those people you say you hate
"This is a great day for this organization," said McMahon. "I think that the merger of sports entertainment and space research is a no-brainer. It can only work to the benefit of everyone. And The Rock has been after me for a while to give him something more science-oriented to do. I think he'd be a natural in Martian geology, or maybe even tracking solar magnetic field variations."
Goldin, however, had a different view. "I can't believe this is happening. We've got a space station to take care of, a dozen extra-planetary missions and the Hubble telescope on the go right now, and I'm supposed to make room somehow for some wrestler on my data analysis team?"
McMahon's attention had been drawn to NASA by its recent sponsorship of robot battle contests, originally intended to interest high school students in science. "Once I saw that," said McMahon at the press conference, "the wheels just started turning. I mean, come on! They weren't doing pay-per-view on that thing -- just sending it out free on the net!"
As newly-appointed Big Kahuna of NASA, McMahon took the opportunity to announce that future astronauts would need new abilities and skills. "Yes, flight experience is important. But so is hair. And you've got to have a schtick, some sort of hook to keep viewers watching. And I don't even want to hear from you if you can't take a fall without getting hurt."
Free Software Foundation guru Richard M. Stallman could not be reached for comment. A source close to the programmer said that he was "busy working on his Iranian throat lock."
Carousel is a lie!
OK, some corrections. First, this is just the west coast regional competition, there are in fact 13 regionals. There is also a national competition in Orlando. Second, and far more important, this is NOT BATTLEBOTS. The goal of this competition is not to destroy your opponents, its to build a robot that can cooperate effectivly with teammates to perform a specied goal
Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose
These things are fun to watch. I have been going to our local regional every year for several years. I went to the regional competition in grand rapids last weekend. I highly recommend it.
There is a misconception here. This is nothing like battle bots. If the robots are damaged, it is an accident. The robots are not fighting each other, they are cooporating to get the highest score.
The robots can be very professional, too. The kids put a lot of effort into this. My local school has about 60 kids working on their robot. The sponsors typically put up more than $100,000 per robot.
I am truely impressed by the level of sportsmanship at these things. I have not seen the level of sportsmanship that is routinely displayed at this event at any atheletic event that I have ever been to. I wish they had this when I was in high school.
Rules
There are four robots from four schools in the ring at a time, randomly selected. For this years game, you can get points for each small ball placed in a goal, placing a single large ball on top of the goal (higher than a person), and ending the match with your robot in a certain position on the field. In addition, your score is multiplied by a factor if you buzz out of the round early, or if your robot has balanced one or two goals on a see-saw at the end of the match, without the see-saw touching the floor, or supported by the robot. (!) The field is divided in half. The robots start on one side and the balls start on the other. To traverse between the two halves, the robots must either go under a low bar, or drive up the see-saw ramp, causing it to tip to the other side. (leaving it in the up position for the next robot) Also, the kids have an allotment of balls they can pass into the ring from outside the ring.
My favorite bot It is truely facinating to see all of the different approaches the teams have. Many of their robots are very innovative. My favorite was a robot shaped like a ramp, which had an arm for manipulating the see-saw. It would maninpulate the see-saw in the horizontal position and allow the other robots to drive on top of it and get to the other side more quickly (less incline than the see-saw--many robots did not have enoung power to drive up the see-saw and come down the other side), and it could use its little arm to balance the goals on the see-saw, which is worth a huge number of points. It completely controlled the see-saw. There are size and weight limits, too. In order to fit in the allowable space at the beginning of the match, the ramp-bot had to be folded up. When the match would start, it would unfold, making itself about 50% wider and twice as long as it was. It reminded me of the old transformers cartoon.
Uh, no. As corny as it is, the whole Comedy Central practice of having comedians do the play-by-play has given the event a certain flavor I don't think NASA scientists will be able to repeat.
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
Thats about time!
Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities.
Aristotele
It is hosted by Craig Charles, formerly of Red Dwarf fame. Not just a simple elimination match, but you get to over come challenges like obstacle courses, etc. All while avoiding the infamous house robots.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
I followed the link to the JPL website, and found it uninformative and quite sparse. No mention of the date or time of the webcast was given, merely a link to the Real media video stream (and of course that link is broke at the moment, since I'm sure the match is not going on right now).
Perhaps someone could post a link to the story which actually gives the details!
Nasa has good servers - but the /. effect is apparently more powerful still.
There are a thousand forms of subversion, but few can equal the convenience and immediacy of a cream pie -Noel Godin
For those who just tuned in and are confused (why aren't they destroying each other? thus su><ors!!!), the rules of the game are here. It's co-operative, and there are several objectives... read this, and enjoy the show :)
./rant Agreed, I wonder why there isn't a comparison a la rap music, television, to this, but being devils advocate, there can be some advantages to programs such as this.
Pros:
If aliens ever show up, we'd use battlebots (hehe)
US spends most on military (less lives lost using robots)
Inventors (students) get a grasp of teamwork and engineering skills
Funding for students is less than hiring vendors (NASA keeps the robots I think)
NASA looking to improve so it doesn't lose another MARS probe
Cons:
Waising tax payer dollars
Creating violence in schools
Isn't telecast with XFL or Survivor for ratings
;)
There are plenty of robots in the workplace we all use everyday, then there are those who'll protest the use of robots in the workplace for fears of losing their jobs.So there's more pros than cons. Seriously though, we all know about violence in schools, and society as a whole, but these are engineering and science students, not the typical misfit you see shooting up his school. Sure it can have violent tendencies to show this program or even scheme it up in the name of science, but its no different than Gene Rodenberry's Star Trek shows (well its real) on television battling it out week after week.
Think for a second about the pro's involved here. Now when a student brings a bomb to school, we have robots that disengage those bombs (nice comparison huh), well picture the future, a robot who not only disarms the student's bomb, but gives then beats on him afterwards and arrests him (very true there's the LAPD for that).
Nonsense, that would be scary to have a "leisure" society where no one did anything. Double check that thought. Who would control the robots? Hence who would control society...
Your right just yesterday I was mugged by two geeks who armed with EMP weapons demanded all of my LED lights. They tied me up using synthetic wire (environmentally friendly) and proceeded to cure my diseases with their Palm Pilot database filled with DNA sequencing. I tried to explain to the cops their identities, but failed to describe their pencil pouches.
360 degrees of Karma
The link posted with the story didn't provide a whole lot of information, but you can get all you need to know at the 2001 documentation section of the FIRST Web site.
This competition is a lot more education-oriented than "battlebots," and looks like a lot more fun.