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Dean Kamen Awarded Patent For Robot Competition Rules
An anonymous reader writes "Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway and the founder of the FIRST Robotics Competition has been granted Patent 7,507,169, that describes one of the previous competitions. The main invention is a ranking system that ranks teams not only on their score, but their opponents' score, so teams are rewarded for helping their opponents score more. It is claimed that this ranking system promotes the made up phrases 'coopertition' and 'gracious professionalism.' It had three rejections, and even more appeals, before finally being accepted six years after the first application. While a majority of his 130 patents are for things related to his inventions, which are as diverse as medical equipment, unique uses for Stirling engines, and transportation, this one seems a little dubious. Dean opposes the Patent Reform Act of 2009, which would make it easier to overturn patents after they are granted."
What's the matter... he's afraid that after patenting too much obvious and frivolous stuff like robot competition rules, they'll start telling him... duhhhh, this is too obvious dude :) ?
Never antropomorphize computers, they do not like that
Ideas should be free. The idea that one can own an idea is, I believe, an ill conceived principal.
Perhaps I should patent "patents".
You cannot copyright a game, but you are allowed to patent the rules?
Correct. If you want exclusive rights to functionality, a patent is the way to go. Nintendo has a U.S. patent on the rules of Dr. Mario and Tetris 2; Konami has one on Dance Dance Revolution. The Tetris Company has had trouble shutting down developers of Tetris clones such as Gnometris and LTris because Elorg never sought a patent on the game, only a copyright on the game program and those audiovisual elements not dictated by functionality.
Gotta agree, FIRST was supposed to be an attempt to make engineering geeks heroic athletes, then it gradually turned into Rollerball, where a team might be allowed to win, but nobody was allowed to stand out on their own. Oh, and then you got to suffer through a "victory" celebration by listening to Dean drone on and on and on...
Systems like that (and proofs about them) are a corner of game theory. I guess since it lacks any proof of efficacy it's not valid math and is therefore patentable??
If so, that would mean that if someone mathematically proves (or disproves) that the system meets its goals, then it becomes a mathematical conjecture and therefore unpatentable!
I think I'm going to file a patent on game that achieves its goals if and only if P=NP.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
Your method is really just a somewhat inefficient way of finding eigenvectors. Eigenvectors make a lot of sense to use there, but you can be more efficient about the details of finding them. Looked at from that angle, it also becomes clear why your solution didn't always converge (and, in fact, why it *couldn't* always converge).
I'm pretty sure there are people out there who could establish prior art....oh yeah, the fact that there are people out there kind of establishes prior art.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
The latest are the worst.
The latest are always worst.
There isn't a "everyone is a winner" mentality in FIRST. Well, maybe a small one. But no one is handing out ribbons for people that don't win the competition. (Well, the participation medals, but they're marketed as just that: participation medals. More for record keeping than anything else TBH)
The competition also isn't about the competition. It's about encouraging a bunch of students to get off their ass and go learn how to build a robot. The point isn't the competition, it's the learning.
You argument is like saying "The school system is poor because there are no winners".
-1 disagree is not a modifier for a reason. -1 troll, flaimbait, redundant, overrated are NOT acceptable substitutes.
Tie breaker using opponent score in tournament exists from a while.
SOS: Sum Of Opponents' Scores.
SODOS: Sum Of Defeated Opponents' Scores.
http://senseis.xmp.net/?TieBreaker
I've volunteered with FIRST every now and then when I'm able to.
The phrase "gracious professionalism" always struck me as both condescending to the contestants and unnecessary.
We have the perfectly good term "sportsmanship" which means pretty much the same thing. At various other robotics competitions (BattleBots, Robot Battles, etc.) nearly everyone I've met has been a good sport, and likeable too. Going on and on about "gracious professionalism" at the various official functions implies that the contestants are unable to figure it out on their own and thus need to have it drilled into their heads.
Your design to a real part online: Big Blue Saw