From:  Ekman, Bob

Sent:  Monday, August 25, 2008 3:34 PM

To:  'mcorey@kipr.org'

Subject:  Recommendations for Botball 2009 from Explorer Post 1010

Thank you for a great 2008 program.  We continue to be very positive about the Botball program.  The kids and parents find it a great way to gain experience in engineering and learn about robotics.  The mentors like the program because it can be conducted in a small facility footprint and the cost is relatively low compared with some other competitions.

We have had some feedback sessions in July and August.  Here are some specifics mentioned about the 2008 program and conference.

1. The iRobot Create worked well.  Running open-loop (dead reckoning) it was more accurate than our XBC bots.  It was more rugged than our other bots.

2. The Create libraries could have been coded better.  One of our teams rewrote the libraries.  Another team had problems with the Create crashing when they changed Create modes (passive to full and back) using the library functions.

3. We purchased two Creates from iRobot and were surprised that we needed KIPR to install changes to make them work.

4. We liked the 2008 game.  It had a good number of way points (lines, walls, objects).  We would like to see more in 2009.

5. We would like to see a few more scoring objects that are shared between teams.

6. While the bridges were good ideas, the tape hinges were terrible.  The little overlapping pipe next to the bridge was an unnecessary challenge.

7. The venue for the conference/tournament in Oklahoma was too small.  We needed pit area, more table space, and more spectator seats – stadium style.

8. The conference/tournament room was very loud.  The speaker system may have been turned up to high or the acoustics were bad.

9. While we know it is hard to enroll volunteers, we think the judges need a little more training and the emcees need to back off a little with their exuberance.

10. Judges, emcees, camera men, and team members should not wear colors that are critical to the operation of the robots.  We think a blue shirt disrupted another team's bot at our regional tournament.  We have some videos that look suspicious and the kids swear it happened.

11. As the conference/tournament continued, you used a new technique for determining time on the practice tables.  It was well received and should be considered for regional tournaments.

12. We would like to have the DC regional tournament earlier in the year.  But we are very thankful for the Global Conference/Tournament to be in our area in 2009.

Thanks you for all your extra efforts in making this the best national robotics competition.

_______________________________________________________________
Bob Ekman -- Lockheed Martin, Explorer Post 1010 Advisor
700 N. Frederick Ave., Gaithersburg, MD 20879
Phone/Fax: (301) 240-7625/5750 -- Internet: bob.ekman@lmco.com