Hacker News Reader

Comment by amelim | Hacker News Reader

Dean may be arrogant, but I find it hard to fault him when his foundation of the FIRST robotics league for high schoolers has impacted my life so significantly. I participated in the 2006 year with my high school as a senior and now I'm working at a major commercial and government robotics company. His outreach to students through the FIRST organization is one of the best science technology activities for teenagers.

View on HN

I am also a big fan of FIRST but think he has the problem of having had success early in life and therefore doesn't know his limitations. Take a look at the FIRST logo for instance - it sucks. And the name, FIRST robot competition, makes it difficult to explain to someone and impossible to brand: "What do you mean first robot competition, I have been hearing about robot competitions for years."

The Segway is a classic engineering failure, a solution in search of a problem. They developed the iBOT wheelchair: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBOT and where looking for a way to sell a commercial version. I think the quote "medical device styling" is right on. If, instead of using his usual industrial design firm, he had given this to IDEO and had them pump out 20 different versions they might have had something.

Kamen isn't the only one involved in FIRST, by far. It's a symptom of the personality that you would react like that.

Perhaps. He's not the only person involved with FIRST (probably not even the most important), and my praise has more to do with the actual event than the person. Honestly, when it comes down to it, I could care less about someone's personality. It's more about their actual achievements (of which he's had both hits and misses).

+1 I am also a big fan of FIRST.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com