Good article, although it sure dwells on the negative. Failure? I think not. Grandiose initial plans often need to be simplified. Dream big, but make it doable enough to encourage competition.
I organize a lot of competitions & competitions, from the silly figure 8 & one-servo challenges to our "Terminator" contests : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANKleh5ZdEM
People will only enter a contest if it looks very doable. I can't blame DARPA for "managing expectations for" (AKA dumbing down) their contests. Way less than half of the people who promise to compete actually show up at the starting line. More like 20% from my experience.
Figure 8 is far from silly! The Terminator stuff... that's only allowed in Erco County.
Most recently I've wanted to have a robotic lawn mowing contest. I live in a record drought stricken area so I'm open to new ideas.
Between cheap foam noodles and a Walmart $5 kiddie pool, I'm starting to consider a little robot boat. SLRM and Phipi sure make it look like fun. Better watch out, guys!
Performance in the first DARPA Challenge (vehicles in the desert) was terrible. Much progress was made for the second Challenge. Hopefully, if DARPA repeats the last Challenge, we will also see much improvement.
John Abshier
Too_Many_Tools
Posts: 765
Comments
FYI..
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/the-darpa-robotics-challenge-was-a-bust/ar-AAcu01k
Wow....one of the biggest efforts concerning robotics in years and not ONE comment about it.
We REALLY need a robotics area ASAP.
Comments?
People will only enter a contest if it looks very doable. I can't blame DARPA for "managing expectations for" (AKA dumbing down) their contests. Way less than half of the people who promise to compete actually show up at the starting line. More like 20% from my experience.
Most recently I've wanted to have a robotic lawn mowing contest. I live in a record drought stricken area so I'm open to new ideas.
John Abshier