Blinky Competes at RoboGames 2013

This year at RoboGames I ran the Balancer Race. The objective of this competition is for your robot complete the course in the shortest period of time, while staying balanced. The robot has to navigate some simple obstacles and at the end of the course stay within the end zone for 10 seconds. The robot can be autonomous or remote controlled.

My robot Blinky competed in the Balancer Race this year. It’s a bit of a conflict of interest to organize the race and compete in it, but there were so few other competitors that if Blinky didn’t enter, the race would not have qualified for the medal ceremony. So I don’t feel too conflicted. A balancing robot is one of the most challenging types of robots to build, so just entering a robot in the race is an accomplishment.

In the end, Blinky completed the course faster than any other robot and was awarded first place. Here is a video of his final run. Yes, I know the video is vertical. I gave my phone to someone who didn’t know that video is supposed to be shot horizontally!