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NASA Robots Beat Each Other Up

Posted by Hemos on from the better-then-battlebots? dept.

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"

3 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. To summarize... by Amoeba · · Score: 5
    All posts regarding this article probably can be summarized by:

    "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"

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    Do not taunt Happy-Fun Ball
  2. Vince McMahon Announces Hostile Takeover of NASA by Saint+Aardvark · · Score: 3
    NEW YORK (AP) -- In a move that signals a new direction for sports entertainment, Vince McMahon, owner of the World Wrestling Federation and the Extreme Football League, announced today that he had successfully purchased the National Aeronautics and Space Administration from the United States government. President Bush, ignoring the pleas of NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin, approved the deal as part of his administration's move to make government agencies pay their own way.

    "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."

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    Carousel is a lie!
  3. More information by CyberDawg · · Score: 4

    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.