Hey, everybody
YES we have determined the top 32 designs moving to Phase III.
And YES, they're now on the "NEWS" section.
A little snag with the emails and video, which should go out tomorrow.
For those who didn't make it to Phase III, THANK YOU. Lots of great designs, and I hope to see how they evolve. Note that when Phase III goes active, the non-32 designs will still be on the site and editable (but not votable) so you can continue to use the framework to show off your design and get help.
CONGRATULATIONS to the top 32.
Terry WestPIC32 Design Challenge Judge
Hello all,I will be at the Microchip booth at ESC in Boston on Wednesday, October 29, from about 2 to 4 PM. Stop by and say "Hi", and let me know how your design is going.Thanks!Scott WingDigi-Key
Hello all,
I will be at the Microchip booth at ESC in Boston on Wednesday, October 29, from about 2 to 4 PM. Stop by and say "Hi", and let me know how your design is going.
Thanks!
Scott Wing
Digi-Key
Good evening, Everybody!
I just got the final spreadsheet from Rich as well as Scott, and merged it together. Time for me to finish off my scores as well and come up with the judges tally. When I get into the office tomorrow I should have in my inbox the final list of community members votes, and I'll put the whole thing together. Then a final scrub, including some of our applications engineers looking at the software.
Some of you might have noticed a few late changes in those "complete" entries. We did some digging -- 2 folks had problems at the last minute uploading videos and posted links to youtube before the freeze and we should have those videos posted now. One contestant (txnghia) had issues uploading software and, after making sure we knew it was legitimate, we also took care of that.
Only one person had an issue we couldn't address. I really think everybody understood **all** containers needed to be filled. One contestant, unfortunately, did not upload their early software/software-diagram and said they didn't know that was required. I feel bad about that, but I also feel comfortable our rules and my numerous blog/vblog postings made it *really* clear that all containers needed to be filled in, so unfortuntely this person did not make it to a valid end-phase2 entry. I don't think we're being too harsh -- we have to have a level playing field for everybody. Would you all agree?
One last question for all of you: we've debated back and forth about what we should do with the votes/ratings after the phase closes, and we're on the verge of deciding to clear out votes and ratings fresh for the next phase. There have been hot debates about this internally, and I would like to get your opinion. I know there will be opinions out there on both sides, but our feeling is that each phase needs to drive a renewed look at all the remaining designs by the community to ensure some degree of fairness. Also, while I admire some of the "get out the vote" activities (very ingenious!) that some folks have managed this phase, we don't necessarily want those one-time-votes to stack the deck throughout the rest of the competition. The idea is to keep the community interested and involved. Again, looking for your feedback and also for your understanding as we make the decision on how to do this in the next few days.
Off to judge....
Terry WestMicrochip 32-bit Marketing ManagerPIC32 Design Challenge Judge
I just finished the judging for the second phase of the contest, and I have to tell you that these entries are REALLY good. For all of you that have made it to this round, you deserve a pat on the back, and maybe more if you make it to Round 3. But regardless, my hat is off to all of you (even the guy with the Rectal monitor!).
It wouldn't be fair for me to tell you which ones I chose to advance to the next round, but you'll find out soon enough.
In addition, the comments that members of the community left for the many of the contestants were right on the mark. From the "Great idea" to the "what were you thinking," I agreed with just about every one of them.
See you in the next round!
Hey, Everybody!
As you know, every week we've been giving out community prizes randomly on the site based on folks logging in and looking at designs. I know it's unfortunate we can't make this part of the site world-wide: it is just impossible legally. So I really appreciate the positive attitudes of the folks that are not eligible.
Now we're looking for your input!
Some of our partners have given some really cool stuff, and I think the iPod Touch went over pretty well. But... we want to keep it fresh and cool... so....
Feel free to reply here to my blog and tell us what you guys like for community prizes the most. If it's stuff we have to shell out the dineros for, try and keep it around $300 a week (i.e. 5 prizes of $60, for instance, or 2 prizes of $150... you get the idea). Feel free to talk about partner and third party prizes and we'll talk to them about it! Maybe people we haven't even talked to yet! Although keep it real... some of the partners have done some BIG stuff already and we can't keep hitting that source too hard!
Looking forward to hearing from you, Terry
Hi everybody, sorry it's been a while since my last post... i had "adventures in travelling" to Taiwan a few weeks ago , among other things.
Great progress on the designs! And the videos are excellent. For those of you that haven't posted a video yet, you need to get that up there soon. You don't have to put yourself on camera. I would recommend at least a (stable) camera showing your board and you doing a voiceover with a pen or pointer pointing out the features of the board/prototype. If you're not comfortable with a voiceover -- I know for many of you English is not your native tongue -- you might want to just use a simple moviemaker type software to overlay some basic text on the video telling what your design is about. From a judges' perspective, it doesn't have to be pretty, just give us the overview and make sure we understand what you're doing.
Also, from a contest rules/judging perspective, contestants, make SURE you get all your containers populated before we freeze the entries for judging (October 13th, 8am Eastern). I posted a video on the home page talking about this (thanks, Jeremy, on the PIC32 team for adding a little "timely" flair to the video!). You wouldn't believe how many people had great abstracts in phase 1 but didn't draw a simple block diagram so they were disqualified immediately for the top 128. Again, it doesn't have to be pretty. We're looking for substance not window dressing.
THAT SAID...
the community has 40% of the vote this time! we're going to take the community votes and lay them out in a spreadsheet beside the judges votes and weight them to get the top 32. So.... you NEED VOTES from the community. Get your colleages and friends on the site and vote for you. About those prizes: There was an email that went out from the contest folks this week: the first FIVE designers that get to 100 votes get a FREE iPod Touch!!! We have literally thousands of registered people on this site, so it should be possible *if* you drive traffic to your design.
By the way, a few housekeeping notes:
Good Luck!Terry WestMicrochip PIC32 Marketing Manager & Design Challenge Judge
Have you seen some of these designs that have been picked to go to the next phase of design? Some are really impressive. Take the SweetBox, for example. It's a domestic home controller that uses VSCP, or Very Simple Control Protocol (www.vscp.org). I wasn't aware of this protocol.
Then there's the Internet-accessed security/babysitting robot (you can see the robot in action in a video on the myPIC32 contest home page). You control the robot by linking to a host PC or standalone web server. A PIC web server module handles the communications from the robot to the internet, while a PIC32 handles communications and control of the robot. Going one step further, the robot even upload files directly to a website or email server, such as images from the robot's camera. That's pretty cool stuff.
I'm not sure how useful the iHippo interactive toy is, but it's definitely high on the coolness scale. Based on the Pic32 (what else), the toy can tell stories, play songs, and it even giggles and wiggles. That reminds me of a toy that would laugh loudly whenever you squeezed it, or whenever my daughter would roll over it in her sleep, which was often. The iHippo is loaded with sensors, so it can react to lots of different conditions (such as low battery, different touches, etc.).
Here's one more that I found interesting, and in this case, quite useful. It's a three-dimensional ruler, otherwise known as the 3D-Ruler. It helps you overcome some common problems, like measuring around a corner or through a wall. And it does this by making use of GPS technology. A three-axis 3D compass is used for indicating the ruler's heading and orientation. An SD Card slot is available to hold maps, blueprints, etc. And the LCD shows a nice image. I know this is something I'd be able to make good use of.
OK, this is starting to look pretty cool..... nice going "emcniece", you got the graphics libraries cooking already!
http://mypic32.com/web/guest/contestantsprofiles?profileID=31593
Hey, Everybody
We're getting a lot of pings about various sensors, motors, and external devices -- anywhere from mag sensor coils to bathroom fans, etc.
I would really encourage you to look at the rules around the BOM, partially copied here for your reference:
*Clarification added 05/09/2008: Although "hardware components" means electrical and electronic components usually assembled on a Printed Circuit, Wire Wrap or Prototyping board, the $400 BOM cost limit does not include this board or any cabinet. Nothing in the PIC32 Starter Kit or PIC32 USB Starter Board, I/O Expansion Board or Prototyping board counts towards the BOM cost limit except for any hardware components on those boards that the Contestant uses in his or her design
So I think the rules are quite clear that external sensors and actuators and all the "outside world stuff" your design connects to (like the car that one of the designs connects into!) are NOT part of the BOM cost restrictions or the Digi-Key sourcing rule. It's all the electronics on the PCB we're talking about! And if you build a special PCB in your external sensor device, then you have to include all the electronics on that PCB as well.
Hope this helps.
Terry West
PIC32 Marketing Manager & Design Challenge Judge
The team of technicians and engineers at Digi-Key has taken a good look at all of the designs, and there are some very difficult decisions to be made. We will go over them again, and I will personnaly make sure we are choosing the top 128 based on the rules and criteria. I have to say a big "thank you" to all who entered, and we are very impressed with all of the work that was done.
Congratulations to all, and good luck to the 128 that go on from here.
July 15, 2008: Beginning of Judging for Phase 1
Good Morning, Everyone!
You'll notice that as of 8am eastern this morning all the designs are "frozen". Judging has begun!
It's a cool 90-something this morning in Phoenix -- monsoons have begun -- and in about an hour my team is coming over to the house to spend all day going through the NEARLY 400 DESIGNS while enjoying a southwestern lunch BBQ. Next week, all of you fortunate souls going to Microchip MASTERs will likely enjoy one of those southwest BBQs... Hey, I'll be around all week there, so come and meet me and the rest of the PIC32 team at the ask-the-experts tables!
I've had to enlist the help of my very competent product and technical marketing crew to help... though I personally have to read every single one and judge them. It's going to be fun!
Contestants... PLEASE fill out your profile information (shipping address, not PO Boxes... and phone numbers and full names) so that if you're in that top 128 we can ship the prize packages ASAP.
Just a peek into the process: Rich Nass, Scott Wing, and myself are independently going through (starting this morning) all 396 designs and ranking them. Then early next week we're going to merge our lists and determine the top 128... we'll spend a bit of time looking at the ones above and below the cut line to make sure we're OK with the decisions. Next we'll have the TechInsights support team go through the list to make sure everybody is eligible (for instance, nobody that clearly is the same person for 2 designs... and that they're legally able to enter). That should finish up next week (around July 23rd).
Sometime on the 25th, we'll post the userIDs of the top 128 and announce them in the evening at the Microchip MASTERs event. At that point, the designs that didn't make the cut won't show up in the design lists anymore. The top 128 will unfreeze and a new area will open up for those contestants to start working with. July 29th is the official start of the hardware design phase!
Meanwhile, the forums and blogs are still open for business, and the weekly prize giveaway continues....
Off to donuts, coffee, and the master judging spreadsheet!
Good Luck!
Ah, Jamaica... sun, sand, and a great hotel.... it can be hard to let go of that feeling of sitting at the local jerk center (my favorite was "Scotchies" about 10 minutes east of MoBay) with a Red Stripe in hand!
But back I am! And what looks to be nearly 300 designs, with now less than a week to go!
And did you see that great contest review on DEV-Monkey?
On July 15th at 8am eastern time, we're going to freeze the designs on the myPIC32 website and my fellow judges (Rich Nass of Tech Insights & Scott Wing of Digi-Key) and I are going to sit down and carefully select the top 128 designs that will move on to phase 2 of the challenge.
So let's go over a few things that the ~300 entrants need to think about before the July 15th freeze.
First, of course, make sure your title, abstract, and block diagram are exactly the way you want them before we freeze the designs for judging. By the way, if you have any of these fields set to "private" in your profile, they'll get hardwired "public" at the freeze for the rest of the competition.
Second, the myPIC32 team would also greatly appreciate if you could fill in your full name and shipping address (no PO boxes!) and the rest of your contact information in your profile. Hopefully you're one of the top 128 and we need to know where to ship your prize package. If you have all that information filled in, it will save us a lot of time getting that package out to you!
Finally, I'd also encourage you to review the contestant rules to make sure your entry is in alignment. We've seen a design at one point using non-Microchip computing elements, a clear disqualifier based on the rules. We've also heard that some people may have more than one design entered. The rules clearly state "one design per person", so if you have more than one entry, and more than one of them end up in the top 128 then all the designs by that person will be disqualified.
Best of Luck!
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PS: Shameless plug for my sister-division... want more free stuff? Microchip is giving away over $5000 in 16-bit Motor Control development tools. Click here for details: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=3zv3RSmZ8QG_2b7W8d3QnSkg_3d_3d
Ah, vacation. On one hand, I'll be itching to see what new designs are getting posted, what's changing, and watching the number of designs skyrocket. On the other hand, I'll be trying to forget everything and explore Jamaica with my wonderful wife. One thing is sure: I'll be completely unplugged.
Some of these designs are really cool, and I'm really looking forward to seeing them play out. One thing that I didn't anticipate about the designs is how grounded in personal need they would be. It seems most of them arise out of some problem/frustration that people are facing in their everyday lives and thinking "I can make X and fix this!". I can't tell you how many times even over the past week I've had something not work nearly as well as it could/should. For example, I wanted to cut the grass on Saturday, so I wanted to make sure my irrigation system didn't water on Friday or Saturday. But I wanted to keep watering the flowers and bushes and trees. Either (a) I had to go in and reprogram the 5 different lawn zones to turn them off -- and then go in later and completely put the program in again, or (b) turn the whole system off and watch my flowers wilt for 2 days in the 120 degree heat. Seriously, who designs this stuff? Do they use their own products? Do they listen to their customers? Are they so focused on BOM cost reduction that even their "full featured" product can't accomodate user needs? Even an entry-level PIC32, with negligible cost increase, could have easily given the horsepower to drive a much better user experience. And maybe I would have bought the higher end version with QVGA...
Enough ranting/dreaming .
Ok, so we're only a few weeks away from the locking down of the designs for the first round of judging. Contestants... make SURE you have your title, abstract, and block diagram loaded and the way you want it before the freeze... all changes will be locked out during the judging period. Note that at the freeze we'll be making any private title/abstract/block diagrams hardwired public from then on so the community can see them.
Also double check the rules. I think I saw someone with a design using somebody else's micro/dsp in there, which will disqualify the entry. I know it's been a challenge on the rule-interpretation front, but I think the community has pretty accurately narrowed into the spirit of what we're trying to accompllish.
Prizes for those 128... we selected a great Logitech webcam and have 128 of them on order, and we're starting to put the kits together ready to ship the minute the phase 1 winners are announced!
One last thing for contestants.. you need to get the word out if you want to generate a community rating/voting frenzy around your design! This becomes REALLY important next phase when the community starts having a big role in your ability to make it to phase 3. Use the
button on your designs to let your friends know!
Community Members... assuming you're in the eligible group to get weekly prizes you must log in every week and look at 2+ designs in order to be eligible for the weekly prize drawing. We're seeing a lot of activity by people not logged in, and I suspect people are unwittingly missing the chance to win those weekly prizes.
Oh, other news: check out the GREAT review of the PIC32 Starter Kit on Dev Monkey!
See you when I get back from Jamaica, mon!
Wow, what a contest this is shaping up to be. There are a lot of very cool designs in the pool that obviously took a lot of imagination and effort. We will have a technical team from Digi-Key grading each design to make sure each design gets a fair shot. The team consists of EE's and Technician's who tell me they have quite an imagination. We are really looking forward to this whole process, and wish all contestants the best of luck!
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