Build a Mindstorm Robot to Fly to ISS

CodingFrenzy writes: "If you're over 18 and living in Germany, Switzerland or Austria (thats all in Europe) you can submit your best Mindstorm based Robot to a competition to fly to the ISS (this link in German). Choose any design you want: cleaning windows, space-ballet, etc. Include a gravity generator and you might even be able to use those wheels. Pack it into fur and give them a space-pet. What the heck, there's enough junk in space already..." If you win, let us know, we'll send you a t-shirt. :)

A T-shirt?

[TOTKChief]

Just a T-shirt? I can see it:

I built this kickass Mindstorm robot that flew on ISS, and all I got was this lousy /. T-shirt!

Fly to ISS?

[Dr_Cheeks]

I dunno. I mean, that's gonna take an awful lot of batteries, and AFAIK Lego don't make any launch kits. And I wouldn't have thought the little connector-bumps (do they have a technical name?) would be all that aerodynamic. And what if you want it back - re-entry's going to be a bitch on the plastic.

Where's the ISS ?

[CSC]

OK, so the poster explains things to us:

...and living in Germany, Switzerland or Austria

(thats all in Europe)

...but where is ISS ? He doesn't say!

What's an average slashdotter to do? Help!

New Arm

[msheppard]

This is a clever ploy to have an open source (and open-hardware!) replacement for the canada-arm.

Oops

[BradleyUffner]

When I first read the headline I thought it said "Build a Mindstorm Robot to Fly the ISS". What a difference one word makes. That's also an awful lot of trust to put into a little pile of plastic.

What's the big deal here?

[colnago]

Oh...I'm sorry...I thought it said build a robot to administer IIS.

Re:A T-shirt?

[TOTKChief]

And a trip to the control center in Moscow. If you had to chose, what would you take?

Okay, I'm biased. I do design and systems work on stuff that actually does fly on ISS, so this doesn't nearly appeal to me. But I wouldn't go to Moscow Control to save my life. They might decide that, as an undergraduate, I work cheaper than most cosmonauts--"Slap this boy in a Soyuz, Vanya; we'll have a bake sale to pay his salary while he's up there!"

parochial

[mrBlond]

> (thats all in Europe)

ObSatireWire: NetNarrow [satirewire.com], the note at the end is even funnier than the article.

Some stories told by travel agents:

• A client called in inquiring about a package to Hawaii. After going over all the cost info, she asked, "would it be cheaper to fly to California and then take the train to Hawaii?"
• I got a call from a woman who wanted to go to Cape Town. I started to explain the length of the flight and the passport information when she interrupted me with "I'm not trying to make you look stupid, but Cape Town is in Massachusetts." Without trying to make her look like the stupid one, I calmly explained, "Cape Cod is in Massachusetts, Cape Town is in South Africa." her response....click.
• A man called, furious about a Florida package we did. I asked what was wrong with the vacation in Orlando. He said he was expecting an ocean-view room. I tried to explain that is not possible, since Orlando is in the middle of the state. He replied, "Don't lie to me. I looked on the map and Florida is a very thin state."
• I got a call from a man who asked, "is it possible to see England from Canada?" I said, "No." He said "but they look so close on the map."
• A nice lady just called. She needed to know how it was possible that her flight from Detroit left at 8:20am and got into Chicago at 8:33am. I tried to explain that Michigan was an hour ahead of Illinois, but she could not understand the concept of time zones. Finally I told her the plane went very fast, and she bought that!
• A woman called and said, " I need to fly to Pepsi-Cola on one of those computer planes." I asked if she meant to fly to Pensacola on a commuter plane. She said, "Yea, whatever."
• A business man called and had a question about the documents he needed in order to fly to China. After a lengthy discussion about passports, I reminded him he needed a visa. "Oh no I don't, I've been to China many times and never had to have one of those." I double checked, and sure enough, his stay required a visa. When I told him this he said, "Look, I've been to China four times and every time they have accepted my American Express card."

A common answer to folk from the USA saying that we are rude to them is: "We're not rude to people from the USA, we're rude to imbeciles." There's a difference between someone who doesn't know, and someone too stupid to learn.

I think the reason why the "morons from the USA" meme is so prevalent, is because of their president, their political and social conservatism, and the fact that a lot of them can afford to travel abroad, and countless AOLers and WebTVers have access the 'net. If anything I'd say that the USA has some of the most brilliant and amazing people, but the tourists and politicians unfortunately influence thought about USA folk more.

New mantra

[pongo000]

Germany, Switzerland or Austria (thats all in Europe)

News for nerds. Stuff that matters. Geography for geeks.

Now if we could just teach the /. boys proofreading skills, we'd almost be scholarly.

Russian control rooms...

[Richard Bannister]

I've never been to a russian mission control room, but it's probably an interesting experience ;-)

Aye - be sure to wear protective clothing, and make sure you check yourself with a Geiger counter before and afterwards!