I thought the rules were vaguely outlined as something like:
1 Use the Mr.Basic kit.
2 make sure your robot is way cooler than the other contestants.
3 good luck.
-So, do we need any more rules? Do everybody have to use all the parts from the kit? Which partscannot me excluded? Is there an upper price limit?
Personally I thought that only the participants in the competition (and maybe a DAGU representative) would be the jury in the competition. And if someone made a robot that the majority of the others found to be outside their idea of the rules, then they simply wouldn't vote for it. And thus making sure that robot doesn't win without depreciating the effort of it's maker.
Since I seam to get involved in this project over and again, I think I can answer you:
The whole thing is obviously costing DAGU more than they earn, and what they get back is inspiration on how the kit can be used, I suspect that the logic is that a kit used by us, the pro’s - Is a kit worth using for everyone.
Like when a car company lets famous people drive their vehicles for free…
And this should also set the rules; The more popular the robot is (in a broad audience), the more value for DAGU, and thus the better chance to win the contest.
Popularity is measured by votes (the stars) since we have this at hand, and only LMR members can vote, as it takes a login to vote. (we check IP numbers, so don’t make extra profiles to vote extra)
I personally think that a high vote should be given to someone demonstrating posebileties with the kit. And this may be very broad and creative - anything that woud inspire people to chose this as a base, or open their eyes for the kit in any way. Some say that after YDM, they started using paint sticks and hot glue… though the atention was given to the robot because of the drumming, if you know what I mean.
I am pretty sure that Claudia will post an official contest-blog-posting any time soon. And I will make a page that shows all the contesters, and link to it from the front page
One of my first thought upon reciving the kit was “That’s not where I want to keep the batteries.” -and if people want to use 4 NiCd’s they’ll have to add a single battery holder to power a Picaxe, instead of swaping the original batteryholder for one with 4 batteries…
Surely, the intention for DAGU would be to showcase the great variety of possibililies this kit offers. And if somebody makes an awesome bot only utilizing the bottom frame and original wheels, anybody wanting to copy the design would still have to buy the entire Mr. basic kit…
Would it not be possible, if Would it not be possible, if DAGU wanted to distribute your robot kit, to supply a different battery holder with Mr. Basic? I know it wouldn’t be exactly the kit that everyone has received, but is seems like a fairly minor thing to get hung up about.
- Is a kit worth using for everyone.
It feels great!!!
