I've returned from Robotica and boy am I tired!

Those TV people work some long days! I really did have a good time and I learned a lot so this was a very successful competition for me in that sense. Although I don't remember specifically signing a non-disclosure-agreement I'm going to act as if I did if for no other reason then to give you motivation to watch the show… So in that vein I will not be writing about match results nor will I be posting video or pictures of the actual courses until after the event airs.

There were a total of four courses and each was very cool in its own right. The first was the figure eight track. This was the track that qualifying was done on each day and then the actual figure eight races as well. The track had two lanes but the lanes became inconsequential as soon as the gun went off. The robots could come in contact with each other at the driver's discretion.

The next course was the Maze and the Maze was just fun to run. There was a teeter-totter, and 20 pound box to push out of the way, two very large spinning spiked paddles, four speed bumps, a pile-driving gate, and a ramp up through a waterfall. The maze was challenging, interesting, and like no other obstacle I've seen in Robotic Competition.

Next up was the Gauntlet, a series of five increasingly difficult barriers to smash through. The barriers went from glass to paint cans to red bricks to cinder blocks and then finally a 100 pound safe. I've got to say, this was my childhood dream. What kid didn't think about chucking a rock or a baseball through a plate glass window? That's what abandoned warehouses are for after all… Blasting through a brick wall with your robot is right up there too!

The two robots that won on points through the first three events faced each other in the fight to the finish on a platform elevated six feet. The set for this was very dramatic and should look spooky cool on TV! I've got some stills of it and it's right out of Dante's Inferno. The last robot left on the platform wins. This whole event is so very different from other events, with the exception of the fight to the finish, which is pretty much an industrial sumo. That's what made it so cool.

All in all I had a good time, I think the rest of my team had a good time too. I met a lot of cool robot builders, saw some friends again from previous competitions, and met some very interesting people in the TV industry. Ultimately though I was there to run my robot through some challenging courses against other robots. This is what I enjoyed most! When the events finally did go down they were just a blast. The entire day of my competition I was running 110% on adrenalin. My dad and John did what the could to calm me down but I was AMPED! When I was running the first couple of events I thought my heart was going to pop out of my chest it was pounding so hard. By the third event I was much calmer going into it and I think my driving got better because of that. I also had a couple of days where I didn't have to compete so I got to just mill around and watch the happenings. This was pretty fun because I didn't have the stress of competing and I could go anywhere I wanted. I watched from the stands, on the monitors, from the side of the sets, cruised the pits, this was almost as much fun as competing itself. There was even a period of downtime when one of the boom cameramen was letting others operate his camera, showing them how to zoom and pan and things, that was pretty cool too.

I would highly recommend this competition to other bot builders. But I'll give you a word of caution: be patient, things take time on these large sets. I think operations were getting smoother by the third and fourth days and I think the production people learned a lot from this first event. They always seemed willing to listen and take suggestions when they could. If I get the opportunity I'll give it another go.

Some learning's from this event:

Acknowledgements: Listed below are people without whom my efforts to build Malvolio and compete him might have been for naught. This list may not be complete and if I missed you please drop me a line and accept my apologies.

The following people made the event better by their presence either real or supernatural:
Mariusz Zaczek, John Adipietro, Bob Allen, Tony Altenoeder, Andre Anderson, Jason Bardis, Tim Berghoefer, Jeff Cesnik, George Collins, Dave Dexter, Nola Garcia, Dan Haeg, Chris Hannold, Mark Joerger, Bob Knissel, Eric Koss, Walter Martinez, Chuck Mcmanis, Pete Miles, Mike Morrow, Dave Northup, Eric Ostendorff, Brian Posner, Chuck Rader, Kyle Rader, Chuck Rader, Ray Scully, Glen Sears, JD Street, Tanya Memme, Angela the page, Andrew Greenberger, Aaron Weiner, Mike Walsh, the goofy comedians up in the audience now those guys had a tough job, and William Shakespeare or Bill S. as my friends and I like to call him.

Pictures from this event: