Meta Doubles Down on Robot Build/Battle Team Building
Two different Robot Build/Battle Team Building events at Meta set blazing fast build times, and everyone had a great time.
The first group included eight teams and about 50 people. Our venue was outside on restaurant seating on the Meta Mall that runs down the inside of 1 Hacker Way. it was a fabulous place to build robots on long, shaded, barbeque style dining tables. This group was responsible for the Meta/Ray Ban collaboration creating the Meta-Wayfarer and Meta-Skyler brands series of interactive sunglasses.
I am not sure if the glasses helped the building process, although I would not be surprised, but the winning build team posted an amazing time of 32:32, giving them the 50th best time ever! Most teams finished under 45 minutes which gave us plenty of time to battle. (Winning team is bottom team pictured above).
The battles were great with 8 teams all battling at the same time, and one person trading off using my robot for a ninth free-agent! We battled on the concrete walkway of the mall as post 2:00 PM traffic was light. In the end we had about 10 rounds of points based battles, and a thrilling conclusion with the awarding of the champion determined at the “Last Bot Standing Finale!”
I tried a pair of the Meta sunglasses on – wow! what a value! They are discreet, so no “look at those ridiculous glasses they are wearing on their head” thing going on – these shades are cool! They also offer an easy way to take photos straight from your lenses, something I have always wanted to do! The absence of the obvious observer makes for much more compelling opportunities. There is no “wait, get out my phone, point and focus my phone”; no, no – just look and say “Meta take photo” and BAM – perfect picture! In case you are worried about being secretly photographed, a light goes on when taking a picture to alert others.
I was even more blown away by the music feature. I was playing music that sounded like stereo sound, walking down the mall, and the person next to me couldn’t hear the music. So no headphones, no phone camera, just free to listen to tunes, interact with the world, and take awesome photos! I was impressed.
Our second group, pictured as the top team above, had a stellar time of 36:05, placing them 82nd all-time! It is a real honor to to make the top builders list with only a few teams qualifying each year from thousands of people and hundreds of teams. Meta had two teams qualify in back to back days! Congratulations!
A huge thank you to Meta for inviting us to your campus at 1 Hacker Way for 2 different and delightful groups of fast robot builders!
Hopefully we can get Meta groups to try our newest crazy robot adventure Robot Racing!
