ROBOT RALLY - ATLANTA, GEORGIA - 2-5-2000

This young man kind of took over my display table at the Rally. He, like many others, was fascinated by these little BEAM critters. He corraled the bots and kept them from falling off the edges and officiated impromptu races. Keeping up with the Rally's contests proved difficult as my table was constantly surrounded by interested people of all ages. I tried my best to demonstrate concepts and answer questions, but was at times, overwhelmed by all of the attention. Thanks go to Dale Heatherington for the great photos.

This is a plaque awarded to me for Scarlet's win in the open competition. I was genuinely surprised that I won. Scarlet was the only analog based bot at the Rally and had some pretty stiff competition from the CPU based machines. I would like to thank the person who shone a flashlight on Scarlet as I demonstrated it's abilities for the crowd and judges. The impressive "Ahh" that ensued from the crowd as Scarlet went aggressively for the light may have swayed the decision in my favor.

Here, Scarlet sports new, larger, knobby tires. The front castor wheel was also replaced with a larger rubber tire on an aluminum hub. This arrangement allows Scarlet to surmount larger obstacles and makes it move much faster.

Scarlet making a B line for the flashlight beam.