As a fairly newcomer to the world of roboteering, I would like to add a comment and I have to agree with Ed's observations about the lack of audience/roboteer participation.

However, not everyone is comfortable chatting to people and naturally if you do have mechanical problems that you want to sort out, then these can be good enough reasons for rushing back to the pit. However, most teams consist of at least two or three people, so I cannot see why there is a difficulty to offer some interaction with the audience from team members.

If you are on a huge learning curve concerning the knowledge of roboteering like myself, this can also be a hindrance, but as a teacher I am used to talking to people, especially children and can €˜bluff€™ my way through most scenarios! When roboteers do interact with the audience the kids love it and I have to say I get a buzz from it too! Signing a poster for some children is all they want.

As one of the few women in roboteering, I initially felt that the children would not be interested in talking to me, especially with my €˜oh so splendid robot Puck.€™ But once I tell them I €˜drive€™ a robot, (most children & adults are extremely surprised at this) and I explain a few details about its build and my experiences with other robots in the competitions, they like to hear what I have to say.

So come on roboteers, if we didn€™t have the commitment of our Event Organisers to arrange these exciting events and our audiences, there would be no show and we would have to look for other weekend entertainment and after experiencing roboteering, gardening and crotcheting would seem oh so dull!!!!!