Lots going on. Apologies for tardy robot updates. I'm actually going to "kick the can down the road" a bit more with regards to what my team has been up to. And show some things from my recent volunteer gig at the Duluth tournament(s).
I had actually volunteered as a Judge at the Lake Superior event. Judging is great, you get to interact with amazing young people. It is the sort of experience that just makes you optimistic about the future, and I do recommend it. Now that stuff is all done under privacy rules and such, so there's not much I can show you. But once the active phase of that is done you can wander about a bit. Judges have blue shirts and badges that let you go anywhere, so I enjoyed being up close to the matches. It's the second best seat in the house.
I also had a chance to renew old acquaintances. With other robot people. And in this case with a mascot. I have my picture taken with the Husky every year. This year for some reason we mugged for the camera with mock snarls
Shortly after that my day got even more interesting. At Duluth there are two tournaments going on simultaneously. Just a big curtain separating the two playing fields in what is under usual circumstances a giant hockey venue. The event on the other side is called Northern Lights. And they asked if anyone was available to help with field reset.
I've done field reset in prior years, it is a lot of fun. You have specific tasks to accomplish. You work in small teams, and after a bit develop smooth work patterns. And, you get the absolute BEST seat in the house. For me this was a big plus, as our team is competing in just under two weeks. Until you see the game actually played it is very difficult to make predictions on strategy, what autonomous programs are worth having, what's gonna break, that sort of thing. So I said, sure, why not and switched out the blue judge shirt for a standard Volunteer one.
The picture above shows the playing field at the end of a match. Those yellow balls have been launched all over the place. Most stay in the field. And they all need to be lined up neatly for the next match. Most of the herding is done with big rakes. See the guy at top of frame.
From a certain perspective that sea of yellow is a bit disturbing.... It looks like a mass grave of Minions!
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I guess this makes me the Grim Reaper of Minions. Not a entry I thought I'd be adding to my resume.
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