[Proposal] Bitcoin as a Sponsor for our School's Robotics Team

[Anonymous]

Bitcoin as a Robotics Sponsor

Our school (Gateway College Prep) has participated in the Capitol BEST robotics competition for 3 years with me as the founding student and team captain. We've always been in top 50th percentile while beating our rival school but this time we want to aim directly for the top and the national competition.

The competitions usually consist of four competing machines on a field of objectives. The team who scores the most points in either collecting objects or assembling a structure wins. Doing well requires great imagination, great planning and precise design.

Here is our current obstacle: We're a small school so our funding and body of students has always been limited compared to top schools with nearly unlimited resources. Just like them, I want to give my team the ability to realize any innovation we put on paper and we need to have a sufficient amount of funds to get precise parts made. We don't have the money... yet.

Here's our proposal:

In return for the community donating Bitcoins towards the contruction of a top-tier robot, we will put Bitcoin.org as a direct sponsor on our machine to be viewed by over one thousand geeky and computer literate students and parents. We have won an award for aesthetic appeal so we can guarantee that our bot along with Bitcoin will be noticed by a large majority of the audience.



They have not yet revealed the rules of this year's competition so the design of our bot is still pending but at its core it will consist of a two wheel base with a logo similar to the one above (with .org) on both of its sides. The font size will be adjusted  for optimal viewing distance and engineering.

I will be posting photos of our previous year's robot to give you a clearer picture of what the Bitcoin name will be on.

I will state that our team is a passionate bunch and we will be aiming to win all the way. Our objective will be to bring ourselves and the Bitcoin name to the top.

If you're interested in helping our team, please post your pledges below. Once our design is available for preview, we will then begin collecting for contruction.

Thank you,

Immanuel Ortego
Team Captain of Gateway Robotics

Addendum: Here are photos from our first year (2009). We've come a long way since then but you can get a slight taste of how our robots are designed.

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[Yuusha]

Incredibly cool idea. I'd donate.

[Piper67]

Count on me for a few BTC as well.

[evoorhees]

I'll donate a coin if at least 15 btc can be collected. PM me if this comes together.

[Cryptoman]

What sort of sponsorship level were you thinking of?  What's your budget for the robot?

[FAtlas]

Hey, so I checked that website you posted where you're always in the 50th percentile and this is what it said:

Out of 25 teams total

Overall - 23rd
Design Notebook - 24th
Spirit/Sportsmanship - 15th
Table Display/Interviews - did not participate
Head-to-Head - 19th
Website - did not participate

Unless I'm mistaken, it doesn't look like you were in the 50th percentile in a single category?  In your best category (sportsmanship), you were in the 40th percentile and overall you were in the 8th percentile.  Honestly, who brags about being in the 50th percentile to begin with. 

Please reconcile these concerns before I donate.

[NothinG]

o.O
Your school is like an hour away from me.
My brother was in the robotics club...
Wonder if ever competed together?

[inept]

What guarantee is there that you'll follow through on this project as opposed to your last dozen?

[SomeoneWeird]

o.O
Your school is like an hour away from me.
My brother was in the robotics club...
Wonder if ever competed together?

Small world aye.

[Cusser_Bitcoin]

Hey, so I checked that website you posted where you're always in the 50th percentile and this is what it said:

Out of 25 teams total

Overall - 23rd
Design Notebook - 24th
Spirit/Sportsmanship - 15th
Table Display/Interviews - did not participate
Head-to-Head - 19th
Website - did not participate

Unless I'm mistaken, it doesn't look like you were in the 50th percentile in a single category?  In your best category (sportsmanship), you were in the 40th percentile and overall you were in the 8th percentile.  Honestly, who brags about being in the 50th percentile to begin with.  

Please reconcile these concerns before I donate.

I have my doubts that this poster would ever donate, given his name, but he does raise a valid point. The 2010 results are posted at the Capitol Best site (as a sidenote, they could really use a decent web designer). There, Gateway High is listed as:

13 62 Gateway High School 3.30 n/a 6.50 5.50 9.00 24.30

#13th overall, out of 24 schools. Interestingly, with only one exception, the teams below them did not participate in the Team Exhibit & Interview portion - if Gateway hadn't participated either, they would have dropped down to #17th overall (still ahead of the only other team ranked beneath them which also participated in the Team Exhibit portion). As far as their "Robot Performance" score, they were given the equivalent of a "C" grade - I guess that's technically right in the middle, but since there's no limit to the amount of "A" and "B" grades that can be attained, it seems pretty silly to use "percentile" to describe this. The official website describes their grade as resulting from performance in the "top 60%" of entrants - so theoretically you could be 60th out of 100 and still get this score.

Anyway, no matter how you cut it, 13th out of 24 is in no way the "50th percentile" overall. It's a sliver over the 45% mark. Very misleading.

What's even more alarming is that it seems like all teams are given the same "kit", and if this is like the high school Robotics competitions I'm aware of, all teams are expected to confine their designs to the parts supplied to them in the kit. So I'm not exactly sure what these donations are supposed to be going towards. 

I couldn't find the 2009 results mentioned above, but the 2010 results are damning enough by themselves. And I do have to second FAtlas' statement about the 50th percentile - it's sorta like trying to win points at the playground by saying that your dad washes the astronauts' suits, or saying your dad wouldn't lose too hard in a fight against another kid's dad. Adding dishonesty to the equation makes it even more of a bummer.  

[Meatpile]

I find it interesting that bitcoin creates a type of bizarro "multi level marketing" where people feel all on their own (and not really told or hinted to do so) tries to "Advertise" for people buying into it.

We need some qualified people writing psychological whitepaper  analysis on these bitcoin only behaviours.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Hey, so I checked that website you posted where you're always in the 50th percentile and this is what it said:

Out of 25 teams total

Overall - 23rd
Design Notebook - 24th
Spirit/Sportsmanship - 15th
Table Display/Interviews - did not participate
Head-to-Head - 19th
Website - did not participate

Unless I'm mistaken, it doesn't look like you were in the 50th percentile in a single category?  In your best category (sportsmanship), you were in the 40th percentile and overall you were in the 8th percentile.  Honestly, who brags about being in the 50th percentile to begin with.  

Please reconcile these concerns before I donate.

I have my doubts that this poster would ever donate, given his name, but he does raise a valid point. The 2010 results are posted at the Capitol Best site (as a sidenote, they could really use a decent web designer). There, Gateway High is listed as:

13 62 Gateway High School 3.30 n/a 6.50 5.50 9.00 24.30

#13th overall, out of 24 schools. Interestingly, with only one exception, the teams below them did not participate in the Team Exhibit & Interview portion - if Gateway hadn't participated either, they would have dropped down to #17th overall (still ahead of the only other team ranked beneath them which also participated in the Team Exhibit portion). As far as their "Robot Performance" score, they were given the equivalent of a "C" grade - I guess that's technically right in the middle, but since there's no limit to the amount of "A" and "B" grades that can be attained, it seems pretty silly to use "percentile" to describe this. The official website describes their grade as resulting from performance in the "top 60%" of entrants - so theoretically you could be 60th out of 100 and still get this score.

Anyway, no matter how you cut it, 13th out of 24 is in no way the "50th percentile" overall. It's a sliver over the 45% mark. Very misleading.

What's even more alarming is that it seems like all teams are given the same "kit", and if this is like the high school Robotics competitions I'm aware of, all teams are expected to confine their designs to the parts supplied to them in the kit. So I'm not exactly sure what these donations are supposed to be going towards. 

I couldn't find the 2009 results mentioned above, but the 2010 results are damning enough by themselves. And I do have to second FAtlas' statement about the 50th percentile - it's sorta like trying to win points at the playground by saying that your dad washes the astronauts' suits, or saying your dad wouldn't lose too hard in a fight against another kid's dad. Adding dishonesty to the equation makes it even more of a bummer.  

The donations are for the Bitcoin banner placed above the table as the robot is being built. I think this is an excellent idea! Does anybody have a clue who the winner may be this year so we can approach them with this?



Please don't put a Bitcoin logo on the side of this robot. It would be so wrong. So please don't do it. If I had photoshop installed, I wouldn't do it. So please don't do it. OK? Thank you. I would truly hate to see it done. It's important to me that nobody does it. Good! With that said, although it would make me ROFLAO, it would be wrong. So let's move on, knowing that no one here will pick up the mantle and edit in a Bitcoin logo on this innocent looking robot, named Steve.


Bitcoin: An Idea Worth Spending

[Cusser_Bitcoin]

Hey, so I checked that website you posted where you're always in the 50th percentile and this is what it said:

Out of 25 teams total

Overall - 23rd
Design Notebook - 24th
Spirit/Sportsmanship - 15th
Table Display/Interviews - did not participate
Head-to-Head - 19th
Website - did not participate

Unless I'm mistaken, it doesn't look like you were in the 50th percentile in a single category?  In your best category (sportsmanship), you were in the 40th percentile and overall you were in the 8th percentile.  Honestly, who brags about being in the 50th percentile to begin with.  

Please reconcile these concerns before I donate.

I have my doubts that this poster would ever donate, given his name, but he does raise a valid point. The 2010 results are posted at the Capitol Best site (as a sidenote, they could really use a decent web designer). There, Gateway High is listed as:

13 62 Gateway High School 3.30 n/a 6.50 5.50 9.00 24.30

#13th overall, out of 24 schools. Interestingly, with only one exception, the teams below them did not participate in the Team Exhibit & Interview portion - if Gateway hadn't participated either, they would have dropped down to #17th overall (still ahead of the only other team ranked beneath them which also participated in the Team Exhibit portion). As far as their "Robot Performance" score, they were given the equivalent of a "C" grade - I guess that's technically right in the middle, but since there's no limit to the amount of "A" and "B" grades that can be attained, it seems pretty silly to use "percentile" to describe this. The official website describes their grade as resulting from performance in the "top 60%" of entrants - so theoretically you could be 60th out of 100 and still get this score.

Anyway, no matter how you cut it, 13th out of 24 is in no way the "50th percentile" overall. It's a sliver over the 45% mark. Very misleading.

What's even more alarming is that it seems like all teams are given the same "kit", and if this is like the high school Robotics competitions I'm aware of, all teams are expected to confine their designs to the parts supplied to them in the kit. So I'm not exactly sure what these donations are supposed to be going towards.  

I couldn't find the 2009 results mentioned above, but the 2010 results are damning enough by themselves. And I do have to second FAtlas' statement about the 50th percentile - it's sorta like trying to win points at the playground by saying that your dad washes the astronauts' suits, or saying your dad wouldn't lose too hard in a fight against another kid's dad. Adding dishonesty to the equation makes it even more of a bummer.  

The donations are for the Bitcoin banner placed above the table as the robot is being built. I think this is an excellent idea! Does anybody have a clue who the winner may be this year so we can approach them with this?

http://singularityhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/ace-robot-follows-directions.jpg

Please don't put a Bitcoin logo on the side of this robot. It would be so wrong. So please don't do it. If I had photoshop installed, I wouldn't do it. So please don't do it. OK? Thank you. I would truly hate to see it done. It's important to me that nobody does it. Good! With that said, although it would make me ROFLAO, it would be wrong. So let's move on, knowing that no one here will pick up the mantle and edit in a Bitcoin logo on this innocent looking robot, named Steve.


Bitcoin: An Idea Worth Spending

So basically, give money to Immanuel and a half-empty gymnasium full of mostly-bored parents and kids will see the word "BITCOIN" on a mid-tier robot by a slacker (16th out of 24 on "Notebook") school? And then the donated money is actually spent on... beer and candy bars or whatever?

Yeah, not really looking terribly attractive. Immanuel seems to be framing this as "your donations will help propel our entry towards the top", but in the end this is one of the rare few competitions that's truly about mental ingenuity and "intellectual Darwinism" rather than who has the most money or time to lift weights. The fact that this group regularly places below-average leads me to question its reputation amongst the other schools. I don't want the Bitcoin name tarnished by being associated with a mediocre laughingstock.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Hey, so I checked that website you posted where you're always in the 50th percentile and this is what it said:

Out of 25 teams total

Overall - 23rd
Design Notebook - 24th
Spirit/Sportsmanship - 15th
Table Display/Interviews - did not participate
Head-to-Head - 19th
Website - did not participate

Unless I'm mistaken, it doesn't look like you were in the 50th percentile in a single category?  In your best category (sportsmanship), you were in the 40th percentile and overall you were in the 8th percentile.  Honestly, who brags about being in the 50th percentile to begin with.  

Please reconcile these concerns before I donate.

I have my doubts that this poster would ever donate, given his name, but he does raise a valid point. The 2010 results are posted at the Capitol Best site (as a sidenote, they could really use a decent web designer). There, Gateway High is listed as:

13 62 Gateway High School 3.30 n/a 6.50 5.50 9.00 24.30

#13th overall, out of 24 schools. Interestingly, with only one exception, the teams below them did not participate in the Team Exhibit & Interview portion - if Gateway hadn't participated either, they would have dropped down to #17th overall (still ahead of the only other team ranked beneath them which also participated in the Team Exhibit portion). As far as their "Robot Performance" score, they were given the equivalent of a "C" grade - I guess that's technically right in the middle, but since there's no limit to the amount of "A" and "B" grades that can be attained, it seems pretty silly to use "percentile" to describe this. The official website describes their grade as resulting from performance in the "top 60%" of entrants - so theoretically you could be 60th out of 100 and still get this score.

Anyway, no matter how you cut it, 13th out of 24 is in no way the "50th percentile" overall. It's a sliver over the 45% mark. Very misleading.

What's even more alarming is that it seems like all teams are given the same "kit", and if this is like the high school Robotics competitions I'm aware of, all teams are expected to confine their designs to the parts supplied to them in the kit. So I'm not exactly sure what these donations are supposed to be going towards.  

I couldn't find the 2009 results mentioned above, but the 2010 results are damning enough by themselves. And I do have to second FAtlas' statement about the 50th percentile - it's sorta like trying to win points at the playground by saying that your dad washes the astronauts' suits, or saying your dad wouldn't lose too hard in a fight against another kid's dad. Adding dishonesty to the equation makes it even more of a bummer.  

The donations are for the Bitcoin banner placed above the table as the robot is being built. I think this is an excellent idea! Does anybody have a clue who the winner may be this year so we can approach them with this?



Please don't put a Bitcoin logo on the side of this robot. It would be so wrong. So please don't do it. If I had photoshop installed, I wouldn't do it. So please don't do it. OK? Thank you. I would truly hate to see it done. It's important to me that nobody does it. Good! With that said, although it would make me ROFLAO, it would be wrong. So let's move on, knowing that no one here will pick up the mantle and edit in a Bitcoin logo on this innocent looking robot, named Steve.


Bitcoin: An Idea Worth Spending

So basically, give money to Immanuel and a half-empty gymnasium full of mostly-bored parents and kids will see the word "BITCOIN" on a mid-tier robot by a slacker (16th out of 24 on "Notebook") school? And then the donated money is actually spent on... beer and candy bars or whatever?

Yeah, not really looking terribly attractive. Immanuel seems to be framing this as "your donations will help propel our entry towards the top", but in the end this is one of the rare few competitions that's truly about mental ingenuity and "intellectual Darwinism" rather than who has the most money or time to lift weights. The fact that this group regularly places below-average leads me to question its reputation amongst the other schools. I don't want the Bitcoin name tarnished by being associated with a mediocre laughingstock.

Would you reconsider your position if the Bitcoin Robot Convention was held in Pattaya?




Bitcoin: An Idea Worth Spending

[Meatpile]

pattaya has robotic male prostitutes? awesome!

[Phinnaeus Gage]

pattaya has robotic male prostitutes? awesome!

Look closely. They're both robots and both...


Bitcoin: An Idea Worth Spending

[stsbrad]

I'm in for 10.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

I'm in for 10.

SLOW DOWN, BRO! I first need to sent up Bitcoin accounts for my robots. BTW, which one are you interested in?

Wait a sec! I just realized something here. This is for a High School, not a college. Do you know how much trouble we can get into by discussing robots fucking to minors? And what about this? There is a Bitcoin banner above the robot building table and a geography teacher asks what is Bitcoin. The student explains what Bitcoin is and then states that there's going to be a big convention in Pattaya. Son, please take down your banner, and remove the erection on your robot.


This image needs Photoshop!



Bitcoin: An Idea Worth Spending

[Raoul Duke]

Please don't put a Bitcoin logo on the side of this robot. It would be so wrong. So please don't do it. If I had photoshop installed, I wouldn't do it. So please don't do it. OK? Thank you. I would truly hate to see it done. It's important to me that nobody does it. Good! With that said, although it would make me ROFLAO, it would be wrong. So let's move on, knowing that no one here will pick up the mantle and edit in a Bitcoin logo on this innocent looking robot, named Steve.

Yup, that would be so wrong!

[FAtlas]

I couldn't find the 2009 results mentioned above, but the 2010 results are damning enough by themselves. And I do have to second FAtlas' statement about the 50th percentile - it's sorta like trying to win points at the playground by saying that your dad washes the astronauts' suits, or saying your dad wouldn't lose too hard in a fight against another kid's dad. Adding dishonesty to the equation makes it even more of a bummer.  

Here ya go my good bit-buddy: http://www.capitol-best.org/files/results/2009_scores.html

Good luck and godspeed!
or, as the robots would say, Beep boop, DESTROY ALL HUMANS