UC Engineering Prof. Ernie Hall Shows What Separates One Man from 11 "Boys": The Skills of Their Toys

The “Made in Express” Contest is the brainchild of the Microsoft Visual Studio and SQL Server Express Team. According to their Web site, “The In Express Contest is all about people expressing their creativity and passion through technology. From music aficionados who build their own digital music players and libraries, to amateur weathermen who create weather web services, we want to showcase cool people doing cool things with Visual Studio Express and SQL Server Express Editions.”

The worldwide launch of the “Made in Express” Contest was announced early in 2006. At that time, participants entered the contest by telling the team what projects they would like to build using Visual Studio Express and/or SQL Server Express. “These might include web sites or windows applications built with Express, but could also extend to projects with games, robotics, devices and more — your imagination is the limit!” say the contest guidelines.

Each contestant had to create a blog as part of his entry, showing process and progress. Ernie Hall, the director of the UC Robotics program, entered the contest. From the initial field, 12 finalists were selected by the judges to complete their projects.

Ernie Hall was one of them.

At that point, Hall sent a quiet e-mail to his UC Robotics team:

Hello Team:

I have been selected as a finalist to the Made in Express Contest and could win a $10,000 prize

http://www.madeinexpresscontest.com/finalists.asp

. Help me win by giving me suggestions or by adding comments to the blog. The link is on the announcement page. If I win all the prize will be donated to the UC Robot Team.
 
Ernest L. Hall, Paul E. Geier Professor
Director, Center for Robotics, MINE
University of Cincinnati
Cincinnati OH 45221-0072
Phone: 513-382-3909
FAX: 513-556-3390

www.robotics.uc.edu

Hall says that a good friend of the UC Robot Team suggested that he enter the contest. "The only topic I could think of was the robot," Hall says. "I also saw this as an opportunity to learn about C# and start a course on this new language. I have learned a lot just trying to write about it. The next time someone asks me about C#, I can pull up the examples and say, 'Let’s try the 'Hello World' program and learn about Windows forms for design.'"

So how does he feel about being the most, uh, mature finalist? "I don’t think anyone else has ever said, 'you can learn C# even if you are 65,'" says Hall, "but I do remember a book I had on C that had 'you can learn C even if you are 40,' which I was at the time."

"I notice at Microcenter that more computer books are being written for the 'old folks' generation. The ones I have seen are very tutorial," Hall adds. "But actually, Einstein keep writing and speaking at an advanced age and the world is still trying to understand the general theory of relativity."

Hall says that the contest has been well designed and professional.

"The way they have designed it, everyone will either be a winner or a runner up," he says. "Also, some really creative solutions have been submitted. I think the Graspits is super!"

Now that Hall has finished his work, he needs the rest of UC to help out. The 12 finalists have been posted to the “Made in Express” finalists Web page. Hall's page talks about his all-terrain self-maneuverable robot, including a short video and presentation.

Until Sept. 1, 2006, visitors to the page have the opportunity to vote for the “Community Choice” winner, which will be decided by the number of votes received. (Voters must follow instructions on Web site to submit their votes. Voters must be 13 years of age or older and can vote only once from any e-mail address. Subsequent votes by a single user or e-mail address will be disqualified.)

Vote here (but just once)!

And may the best machine win!