ELEV-8 Super, MadeUSAs, and Propeller ActivityBots going to China!
Ken Gracey
Posts: 7,392
Hey all,
I mentioned a while back that I wouldn't be around on the forums too much in coming weeks. One of the reasons is that I've been busy transforming Parallax's relationship with China from a supplier to a customer. At this point, we've repatriated most of our manufacturing to Rocklin so it's time to turn the tables and sell to them more than before. In a bit over a week, we'll be assisting a Chinese distributor in launching a major introduction of Parallax in China specifically for educational customers. China produces many electronic engineers, though few have any hands-on experience with electronics. The distributor and university customers aim to change that.
As part of the introduction we'll be at a technology exposition with a reported 200K people. Parallax and the distributor have a very large space at this exposition - about 10K SF. This is what will be happening over and over (for four days) as part of our presentation:
Below is a photo of some of the hardware we've shipped for demonstrations. They have also taken delivery of several pallets of our products.
The exposition is in Xi'an, China, the aerospace and technology center of China. There are over 60 universities in this Chinese "state". It's really hard to believe how many people are in China - you've got to see it to get a feeling for it. Restaurants might hold a thousand people, roads are jammed, high-speed trains are packed, the air and water are dirty. . .yet it is all so interesting as a visitor.
Will they copy our products? Yes [and they'll buy Props]. But they've got an interest in original manufacturer's quality - there are more fancy cars in China than anywhere else.
MattG, Daniel and a couple of interns helped prepare all of these demos for the trip.
I'll be sure to collect a bunch of photos and stories for you.
Ken Gracey
I mentioned a while back that I wouldn't be around on the forums too much in coming weeks. One of the reasons is that I've been busy transforming Parallax's relationship with China from a supplier to a customer. At this point, we've repatriated most of our manufacturing to Rocklin so it's time to turn the tables and sell to them more than before. In a bit over a week, we'll be assisting a Chinese distributor in launching a major introduction of Parallax in China specifically for educational customers. China produces many electronic engineers, though few have any hands-on experience with electronics. The distributor and university customers aim to change that.
As part of the introduction we'll be at a technology exposition with a reported 200K people. Parallax and the distributor have a very large space at this exposition - about 10K SF. This is what will be happening over and over (for four days) as part of our presentation:
- A 45' x 15' stage with a 1'-high acrylic wall will be used for presentations and robotics.
- Every few hours, an ELEV-8 Super will carry in a Chinese and American flag. The ELEV-8 Super has wireless video camera focused on the flags beneath with video transmitted to a large display, which will be removed from the quadcopter and placed on two customized MadeUSA robots. These robots will wander the stage between presentations, like friendly robots (or soldiers, or whatever).
- When the presentation starts, the ELEV-8 Super will fly in with four Propeller Activity Bots carried underneath. An XBee transmitter will start the robots to drive off the platform. They will play the Chinese national anthem and pop songs. The ELEV-8 Super will leave the stage and retrieve batches of four Propeller ActivityBots until 12 are roaming the stage, playing the music together.
- Meanwhile, S2s will be drawing Chinese characters in another bot arena (another post about this to follow - I still need help!)
- The presentation will be an overview of Parallax, Propeller C, the Learn.parallax.com program, software tools, etc.
Below is a photo of some of the hardware we've shipped for demonstrations. They have also taken delivery of several pallets of our products.
The exposition is in Xi'an, China, the aerospace and technology center of China. There are over 60 universities in this Chinese "state". It's really hard to believe how many people are in China - you've got to see it to get a feeling for it. Restaurants might hold a thousand people, roads are jammed, high-speed trains are packed, the air and water are dirty. . .yet it is all so interesting as a visitor.
Will they copy our products? Yes [and they'll buy Props]. But they've got an interest in original manufacturer's quality - there are more fancy cars in China than anywhere else.
MattG, Daniel and a couple of interns helped prepare all of these demos for the trip.
I'll be sure to collect a bunch of photos and stories for you.
Ken Gracey
1024 x 1365 - 132K
Comments
Of course we will demand videos!
Jim
Congrats on the massive effort, and best of luck with the sales!
-Phil
Thanks guys! I enjoy the encouragement and support. I really enjoy this kind of challenge. We hope to show them that our educational program can inspire creative people to pursue engineering like it does in the USA.
That ELEV-8 Super can actually carry at least eight (8) Propeller ActivityBots - it was an impressive test to carry only four but it did it with only half throttle and a lot of room to spare. For kicks we flew it all around the parking lot and over Parallax before packing it up - the robots just sit there on their track, and didn't slide off in windy gusts.
This all sounds totally mind boggling and audacious.
Hope we get to see some videos of this spectacular.
Wishing you all the best for that adventure.