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RC Heli with camera to record Hurricane damage. mk

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MK
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I saw a video report on that.

I wish they would stop calling them robots. They are not. Robots are autonomous and do not need human's holding a transmitter to make them work.

Still, it was a good piece and presented the hobby in a good light.

Ed Cregger

Reply to
Ed Cregger

On Mon, 12 Dec 2005 12:05:30 -0500, "Ed Cregger" wrote in :

I'm sure you're technically correct.

But I understand why the term is used. If the flight system is so automated that the human guiding the craft doesn't have to know how to hand-fly it, it's got a lot of "smarts" that resemble true robots.

I've seen some industrial "robots" at work. A few humans stand around in the control booths while the semi-smart machinery does a LOT of work that would be pure drudgery for humans to do.

Marty

Reply to
Martin X. Moleski, SJ

I'm wondering how much the pilot does in this instance. There's a transmitter in the picture. You MUST set up a heli just right. I'm betting that Chandler Griffin(the pilot) flies rc for a hobby! mk

Reply to
MK

A while back there was a competition that employed autonomously controlled robotic model helicopters that were assigned tasks. The public TV show aired several years ago.

The German team cleaned everyone's clocks. The Georgia Tech team's efforts were embarrassing for any American that was watching. The Germans were strictly business and their machine easily accomplished the mission. No one was holding an R/C transmitter and no one was grabbing the skids to keep their helicopter from crashing, as were some of the other competitors.

The German's machine was truly a robot. The efforts of the other teams that I can recall were childish in comparison. One could easily see the difference in cultures (and possibly financing and resources) between the various team efforts.

Like any old codger, I become infuriated when witnessing our language and culture degrading before my eyes. If this was the best that we Americans can do, we truly are in trouble as a culture and future world power.

No, I do not know the amount of corporate/government/private sponsorship that the Germans had versus what our team had. There are probably very many other factors that made a significant difference too. However, just from viewing the video, I wonder if the Georgia Tech grads honestly expect anyone to give them a job after graduation? I would be hesitant to do so, after witnessing their video fiasco.

The television shows featuring radio controlled ground vehicles that fight in organized competitions were the first to misuse the term robot on a national/international scale. At least they were as far as I can recall. How many young folks are going to grow up thinking that robots are nothing but radio controlled toys?

It is time for the electronic and print media to return to the high standards of yesteryear. There was a time when you never witnessed a media announcer mispronounce a word. You never saw misspelled words in background graphics. They were the standard that came into everyones' household that could be depended upon to "do it right". I long for those days to return.

Ed, NM2K

Off the soapbox...

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Ed Cregger

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