iHobby 2007

[srobot]

Who is going to iHobby 2007?

I'll be there.

--srobot

[srobot]

I saw that ad for iHobby in robot magazine, and was wondering if any body knows what they are having for the robot part?

Who can bring robots?

Are there prizes?

What types of events will there be?

Thanks,
--Scotty

PS - I found my question in the letters to the editors part of the magazine!

[TOHM]

Chibots is organizing the event. On their site they list this email for information: info@chibots.org

At Robogames, it was mentioned that they were going to have a Robo-One style competition as well as some other events. No mention of prizes.

[HarryBotter]

Last I heard there was going to be a panel involving Tom Atwood, Dave Calkins, Matt Trossen and a few reps from ChiBot. Should be interesting.

Harry

[srobot]

I am still thinking about going.

If I do, should I bring a few robots for this?

If so, do I have to sign up before hand?

If so, what types?

I think I now know what this is all about:

1) There will be a lot of robot companies with booths.

2) Chibots will have a combat robot challenge.

3) Chibots will have a "robot change", in which you come up with a chalenge like a maze, and have a robot solve it. The hardest chalenge solved wins.

4) Robot sumo. (R/C?)


Sorry for formatting this thing like code... I'm a geek, what do you expect?! :D

--Scotty

[tatwood]

Hi Srobot!

There's some background here that I'd like to share, and not all the answers to the specific questions are available, yet. If you look at the home page for the iHobbyExpo event, http://www.ihobbyexpo.com/, you'll see on the lower left a logo from Robotics Trends. Robotics Trends is the premier organizer of robot trade shows in North America, arguably the world (they have held RoboNexus, RoboBusiness and RoboDevelopment for some years--Google those show names and you'll see, if you are not already familiar, and check out http://www.roboticstrends.com/).

The point being that there are common interests shared by the Hobby Manufacturer's Association (HMA, which holds the iHobbyExpo and supports radio control, plastics, trains and other hobbies) and Robotics Trends in cultivating new venues that can serve as marketing channels for robotics.

The shared vision is that more and more robot companies will exhibit at iHobbyExpo, which is visited by thousands of the top hobby retailers, and that hobby and educational robots will both be marketed there, given the considerable overlap. There were a sprinkling of hobby robot companies there last year, and the Chibots put on line following, sumo and other robot demos. This year there will be much more.

I'll be hosting a seminar for retailers (hobby stores) that will include panelists Michael Brezette of Revell (Vexplorer robotics design system, see www.botmag.com for details), Matt Trossen of Trossen Robotics and Dave Calkins, organizer of RoboGames. Dan Kara, founder or Robotics Trends will also be offering a seminar for retailers.

I can say that major combat robot demos are being earnestly explored, hobby robot companies are being courted and educational entities are already considering exhibits of robots used in schools and contests. But developing this kind of "robotics pavilion" takes time, and so questions of prizes, etc. are being debated behind the scenes now, but are not yet announced, at least to my knowledge.

I will look into whether there will be a space for showing off home-brew, competition and hacked commercial robots. As soon as more details are available, we will let you know on this forum.

Thanks for your interest and the questions!

Tom
toma@botmag.com

[srobot]

I looks like there will be:

"Fall Chibotica Competition on Sunday, October 21st, featuring Mini- Sumo Robot Wrestling, Basic Line Following (Standard, Racing and Expert levels), Advanced Line Following, Line Maze Solving and more!"

http://www.ihobbyexpo.com/public_information.cfm

--Scotty

[Hank Freid]

The iHobbyExpo 2007 show was a great success. There were plenty of vendors showing their latest and greatest products off for both dealers and the consumers. The show caters to the rc car and air markets as well as the overall hobby industry. This includes trains and other hobby toys. Most of the major vendors you would expect to see all showed up for the event as well as a bevy of smaller companies.Our staff was buzzing about the show in order to get you the latest news and information coming out of the show. You can see dozens of photos of the new products in our coverage thread along with booth photos.

Regards:
Hank Freid (http://www.marrakechhotelnyc.com/press.html)