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ROBOTICA

by Tom Cantrell

Start ı Fear and Loathing ı Blood, Sweat, and Duct Tape ıTrouble in Tinsel Town ı When the Musicıs Over ı Sources and PDF

L.A. is so weird. It never fails, as Iım swept into the hazy basin in a river of cars about 10 lanes wide, I start hearing those old Doors songs in my head. Yeah, Iım just a rider on the storm.

As usual, itıs the antics of the entertainment industry that bring me south from the land of silicon to the land of sun and fun overdone. In la-la land you can get a paging service that alerts you when a high-speed chase is breaking on the tube. Cool, dude!

Some may say Hollywood is just a shallow, superficial place where life boils down to back stabbing, getting the Beemer washed, and "doing lunch." But that doesnıt change the fact that Hollywood makes the software that sells a lot of hardware.

TVs, CDs, DVDs, VCRs, MP3 players, video games, set-top boxes, satellites, cable modems, karoke machines, and on and on. Weıll buy anything, including plenty of electronic gizmos to get our daily fix of eye and ear candy.

All these thoughts run through my head as I pull up to the heavily fortified guard station at the ABC Television Center. Quickly pulling on my shades, I confirm the insolence of my-pecking-order-is-higher-than-yours scowl in the mirror. The guard gives me the skeptical once over, but an imperious "Iım a sponsor" does the trick and the gates swing open.

Actually, itıs true. A few months ago I read in the paper about a group of local college students who decided on a whim to enter the Robotica competition (see Photo 1).

Photo 1ıThe team, from left to right: Kim Morcaldi, Jed Saunders, Dave "Django" Dexter, Nicole Lowe, Mike Stefani, John Guerra, and Abe Fechter.

My head said there was no way these young folks can pull this off, considering the short deadline, not to mention carrying a full load of classes. But my heart couldnıt resist, so I made a donation. Having been through more than a few engineering marathons myself, I also put together a care package of sodas, cookies, chips, and a big bag of M&Ms.

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