Mike Hamilton-Macy, candidate for FRA chairman.

Since the current commitee have expressed the wish that cadidates for the elections have their own thread I have posted mine.
Only a couple of things to say at this point, the main one is that I will aim to keep the FRA looking forward with better relations and a stronger community.
I expressed the opinion a little while ago that no commitee members should work for an event organiser, I have thought more on this and it would exclude too many roboteers from the election.
With five EOs (all being well) running events this year potentially dozens of experienced roboteers are going to work for at least one of them, it would be wrong to exclude such a high percentage of the community.
So I would propose that anyone could stand, any possible conflict of interest issues that arise in the future could be addressed at the time.
Post any questions or suggestions here, if you want to communicate personally my e-mail address is mikehmacy@purpletom.com
Regards to all, MIke.

Constitutionally, anyone could stand is not quite right:
Neither national nor regional officers shall be an organiser of any commercial event for profit.
(FRA Constitution Para 4.4)
This would rule out EOs but not their respective crews as long as they are FRA members.

Thanks for your correction Karoline, I believe that, at the moment, EOs are allowed to have a spokesperson to represent them at commitee meetings, this gives them a voice but not a vote.
This is a workable situation for the EOs, having crew on the commitee will only become a problem if there is a vote about, the EOs
As I mentioned this would have to be debated if, and when, the situation arises, MIke.

quote:

So I would propose that anyone could stand, any possible conflict of interest issues that arise in the future could be addressed at the time.
One question:
If a majority of committee members worked for a single event organiser, how could a conflict of interest problem even be perceived as such?

hello again, not quite sure what you mean.
In the unlikely event that the majority of the next commitee work for one EO are you suggesting that if, for example, they were voting on who gets the next UK champs and that the majority of the commitee work for one of them that they would not notice the conflict of interest or worse still ignore it? Unlikely.
I would suggest that an ammendment be made to the constitution to the effect that: if a vote is called that directly concerns one or more EOs, members of the commitee that work for any EO should not be allowed to vote on that occasion, thus removing any obvious bias.
I think most roboteers would recognise any such problems but the most important thing is that all FRA proceedings are seen to be fair and unbiased to the community as a whole, MIke.

I believe that the existing governing body are aware of this sort of thing and how to avoid such potential pitfalls.

What I need to know is where you as a chairman of the roboteers organisation are going to take our sport in the future?

Mike is right to a certain extent this is how real world councils work, at least at a local level. Anyone who has a vested interest in a subject has to declare their interest and leave the meeting while that subject is being discussed. I am torn between this system and the current one, the EOs have their own meetings and can report back to the FRA and vice versa. Which on the whole works quite well.

As you say, dozens of experienced roboteers are going to work for at least one EO. Currently it is not a problem as (for want of a better word) allegiances are left at the door.

At this moment in time we do not know who the committee members will be - that is up to the members themselves. My point is, should there end up being an imbalance of allegiance AND they cannot leave it at the door, how could that group possibly even perceive that there is an obvious bias?

In addition to that, by changing the constitution, it WILL come to a situation, by removing the obvious(??) bias, where only one or two or even no one is eligible to vote.

Hi Andy, I have no doubt that the current governing body are aware and have done their best to not get pitted!
As to where I wish to take the sport, it will (if Im elected) not be my decision alone as to where we go, it will involve the collective ideas of the commitee with input from the roboteers.
Reaching a wider audience will be one goal, getting more grass roots interest in roboteering is another.
For example a number of roboteers, myself included, have been invited, in the last couple of years, to schools to put on shows and/or teach them how to build basic antweights and then compete against each other with them.
The response I have seen is very good, that interest needs to be nurtured somehow.
Keeping us in the pubic eye is the main thing.
I hope this goes some way to answering your question, Mike.

...the pubic eye? :proud:

I do have an actual question, as an observer (albeit a well versed one) - according to people Ive spoken to, the FRA itself isnt promoted very much at live events or by the event organisers, possibly leading to scenarios where potential newcomers cant find this forum because they are simply not aware of it.

Would you say that this is the case, and if so what would you intend on doing about it?

Joey before Mike answers your question, some facts about the FRA forum.
It is probable that this website is virtually the most visited website on our sport in the world.
When running well it receives over a million hits per month with a record 120000 unique visits in that timespan

Hi, It has been suggested to me by a roboteer that the FRA has a stand at each event, with leaflets info etc and someone to answer the publics questions, this is a great idea and I (if elected) will be promoting it at the first opportunity, MIke.

Mike,

That last one is definately a good idea. I can think of at least 2 occasions at different events where I was asked how you get started so I pointed them in the direction of this forum but having no material to throw in their direction I have a feeling the information went in one side and straight out the other.

Andy, WOW I didnt realise that the forum received those kind of traffic figures. That is impressive :)

quote:

We attend events regardless of the organisers and try to maintain a political position of sitting on the fence. The same connot [sic] be said of the current FRA commitee, we have already lost one organiser as a result.
(Source: http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/discus/messages/59/14615.html?1231020981http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/disc...tml?1231020981) Posted Jan 1 2009)

The above was posted on 1st January 2009. Are you still of this opinion? And, should a number of current committee members be re-elected in any position, how would you, as the new Chairman, effectively deal with it? - remembering your earlier suggestion of changing the constitution to bar them from voting on matters concerning EOs.

Morning Karoline, the comment you have quoted does not relate to the issue discussed, at length, previously on this post.
As to working with current commitee members if they are re-elected, yourself (quite likely) included, i have no worries about that. I am sure we can all work together for the good of the sport and the community.

Andy,

Im not disputing your figures as regards hits, its just that different ISPs have differing ways or representing traffic. Many consider a unique visit as per day, so 120,000 could represent 4,000 uniques per month assuming they are all regular visiters - still excellent of course. The forum is now of such a size with such a diverse range of topics, a large percentage of which is idle chatter and non-robot related, that it is hardly surprising that Google etc.. has many links to the forum. A more useful statistic is the number of page views per visit.

The reason for mentioning this is I do feel that encouraging new blood is vital to the continuation of the sport and is an area that I have seen little progress over the years. So Mike, do you have any further thoughts on how to encourage new blood into the sport?

Thanks

Paul

Hi Paul, At events, alongside an FRA stand there could be a build your own robot stand with a few, part built machines showing components like drill motors etc so people could see how easy a basic machine is to build. Perhaps a printed, step by step guide to obtaining components and construction might encourage them to start.
As I mentioned earlier schools and colleges are fertile ground for sowing the seeds of interest, maybe a program for approaching them on a national scale could be launched. MIke.

Mike. I wonder what your thoughts are on bringing the community back together. There are lots of people that have robots that dont do events, people who will go to 1 event but not the other, and people in the middle who just want to play robots and have a good time. We all know there is a split which i hope can be repaired and the whole community brought back together. I know its a mountain to climb but can you tell me what you would do to try and build bridges.

Hi Mike,

This might sound like a strange request, but can you please link to a photo of yourself. I dont know you from Adam, but I might remember who you are from one of the events Ive attended if I saw your photograph.

Simon

http://www.roamingrobots.co.uk/?pages=team&id=2039http://www.roamingrobots.co.uk/?pages=team&id=2039

allow me....Mike is the one on the left.

A thorny issue indeed Shane.
As far as Im concerned there should be no conflict between the EOs. In normal events they do not compete with each other, they dont do the same venues, towns or dates (next week is hopefully the only exception). It is only if a number of them are asked to put in a tender for the same job, ie corporate, that they directly compete, this is normal business and the results should be seen as such.
The split appears to be slowly healing itself More of the RR crew are attending RL events these days and I know that Dave and Alan from RL would have attended some RR events if it were not for the fact that they had expo events on the same days.
Both sides have said that they have had enough of the politics and want to get on with playing robots, there has already some talk on this.
To answer your question (finally!) I would ask the EOs to attend the first meeting of the new commitee and thrash out any problems , if any exist, then issue a statement jointly from the EOs and the commitee to the effect that war is over! let the peace begin.
It will then be up to the community as a whole to demonstrate their support for the sport by supporting all EOs not just one.

Adam is, coincidentaly, my son! (the one one the right).
If it helps our team robots are:
Pressure,
White Night,
Puck,
skink,
Odo and Mantis (boxers).
Mike.

P.S. Mike is not a robot! then again?

P.P.S should be White Knight, sorry Erik!

I think it is still very relevant - Having been implicated by you at the beginning of this month as being politically biased, do you not think that the existing committee have done nothing to heal the wounds caused by the conflict between EOs - A conflict that, incidentally, was not started by either RR, RL or the FRA committee?

I am sure that commitee members have tried to heal the wounds, as to who started it I do not know nor should it now matter.
Whats important is that we all move forward and leave the past where it is.
As to yourself I have not implicated you personally at all, I have never heard anything gainst you. I have used the word commitee at all times, any bias that exists or existed is / was within the commitee.
A large number of roboteers are of the veiw, rightly or wrongly, that the commitee is or has been biased.
I would hope that if I am elected and you remain secretary that we can work together, Mike.

Thank you for your many honest answers Mike.

The future is not always an easy thing to predict, fashions and fads wax and wane, keeping the publics attention over a long period of time takes energy, vision and tenacity. Ed has been proactive in many ways to keep the ball rolling, despite occasional difficulties, he has persisted at home and abroad to further the sport.

Ed Hoppitt is passionate about combat robots and promoting the sport at every level, there can be no better kind of person to have as president of the FRA.

Mike Hamilton-Macey, FRA Chairman Candidate and Roboteer

I might be reading this totally wrong but why would you campaign for Ed Mike. I now believe you plan a take over of the FRA and you are all corrupting the system already and no-one has even shed a vote.

soon we can forget about uk events

2009 is the year and has been for the last 2 years :)

LJ you should never say you can forget about uk events. Never forget your roots boy and where you came from.

o i will when i come back to party at the weekends :P n do a few miles in the lambo

you would only wrap it around a lampost or into a brick wall lol

then ill just buy a new 1 :P or get the boss to treat me to one ha

Shane, it is a free election, anyone can vote for who they like or think will do a good job.
As you probably now know Ed has been banned from standing as president.
When you say I now believe you plan a take over of the FRA and you are all corrupting the system... do you mean me personally?
I have stated several times that I (if elected) intend to make the FRA more transparent, fair and evenhanded.
How could I (even if I wanted!) take over the FRA? I will only get one vote just like all the other members of the committee!
I am standing for two reasons:
1. Because of the reasons I have just mentioned.
2. Because numerous roboteers encouraged me to (before Ed was on the scene!).

Mike,
Just need to correct your last statment.

Mr Hoppitt has not been banned from anything to do with the election.

He has been deemed temporarily not elligable to contest an FRA election as his application/status may contavene the FRA constitution. Mr Hoppitt will be offered an opportunity to present his case to the new governing body in due course.

I would urge you to be careful with language as I am sure you would not want to be seen as misleading all, or some of your readers

I stand corrected, Mr. Hoppitts application has been rejected, not banned.

same thing

can i just point out something.

we had a healthy campaign going on and with valuable candidates running for seats.

Again 1 person has come along and there is unsettlement. My statment was not pionted at you directly Mike. I was invited to see what happens regarding the FRA and how it works.

If you were totally honest and totally unbiased then you would agree with me that things at the moment look very suspect. You saw emails that were tooing and frowing between the committee and if you are honest and unbiased then you would agree with me that it looked like someone was being very biased toward someone else.

You cant blame me for worrying when I really do have the sport at heart and if there is any corruption going on at all by anyone at all on the fra then i will expose it on the forum for everybody to see.

I then wont run for any seat cos if there is corruption on the committee already then i dont want part of it. if there is any corruption with the new committee then i dont want part of it.

I will expose everything i find out eventually if i find out.

I have put myself up for a roboteers rep and for the roboteers i will stand. They all have a right to know.

Yes, as a candidate I have seen the tooing and froing of e-mails. As regards bias, that depends on whether you mean support for someone (anyone has the right to do that) or something more sinister.
I would agree that things have been upset, a great shame, but thats polotics sometimes.
As to corruption, should it arise, I personally will not tollerate it.

thats good to hear Mike. I do hope you wont tolerate it because i certainly wont.