Meeting Minutes – Oct. 15, 2000

Members Attending

Chris Boros - President
Jim Frye - Vice President
Peter Campbell - Librarian and Treasurer
Mike Dvorsky - Secretary
Larry Kruzan
Andrew Black
Michael Houston
Matt Underwood

Non-Members

Otis R. Bullock
Brandon Dierker
(Four people whose names I didn't get)

Discussion

Sumo Competition Prize Disbursement. Over 40 prizes have been donated for our Sumo competition. During the officers' pre-meeting, an attempt was made to assign prizes to winners of the different classes. This was not completed before the start of the main meeting. The discussion will be continued on the mailing list.
Number of Winners per Class. The point was raised that there are enough prizes to have 4^th, and maybe 5^th, place winners. We decided to keep 3 winners per class (1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd), the same as last year, since that is the number of plaques that have been made. There will be "Honorable Mention" certificates for other entrants.
Interleaved Classes. In order to keep the contest more interesting, we decided to interleave the three classes. There will be a few matches for mini, then some for middleweight, then some for heavyweight, after which time we will return to matches for mini, etc.
Melee. At the end of the contest, each class will have a "melee" in which all of the robots in the class will be placed in the ring to fight it out.
Bill Harrison. Our emcee has his ticket. He will be reimbursed by the club for the cost. Chris will pick him up in Chicago on Saturday and bring him to Lakeview at about noon on the day of the contest.
Coolest Robot. One of the prize donors (Robot Science and Technology) asked that a prize be given to the "coolest robot." Our emcee/judge (Bill Harrison) will determine the coolest robot.
Starting Time and Duration. There was some confusion about the starting time of the contest. It will start at 1:00. The consensus was that the contest should last for approximately two hours. The matching/scoring will be arranged to accommodate this.
Scoring. Andrew will work out the scoring method for different numbers of robots and communicate this to Steve Julian. An assistant scorekeeper is needed to communicate the score to the audience and contestants.
Certificate for Steve Julian. It was suggested that we give a monetary gift to Steve Julian to show our appreciation for his work as Initial Entry Judge and Scorekeeper. We agreed to give him a $25 gift certificate to a local restaurant.
Overkill versus All Comers. Jim Frye demonstrated his heavyweight robot, Overkill. Even with nearly discharged batteries it showed impressive speed, power, and...coolness.
Auditorium Visit. A few members went to the auditorium after the meeting to check it out. We discussed the possibility of moving the rings to the main floor and having the setup tables on the stage, but no decision was made.

Next meeting: Nov. 5 (Sumo Contest)