International and Indian Teams for Google X-Prize

[ice111]

Originally Posted by ash

Regarding the prize money, the 30 mils would not probably cover the costs involved in this project. The main thing is the recognition and experience that will gain from this

And by the way.. Asian students may be slow, but Asian engineering students are probably just busy with other stuff

I'll think more about the proposal this weekend, when I'm more free.. after adding stuff in the CE Bot project *ahem*

In place of countering what I say its better we move ahead with the actual topic and put some valuable inputs to negotiate with OSIR. Hardly 2 or 3 people are here talking on the issue and still no marketing for the concept. As I say before, we will be still discussing here, and others will land on the moon.

[ash]

Regardless, we still need some proposal to send to OSIR. Sorry, I was supposed to do it tonight, but I got caught up trying to fix openSUSE problems on my laptop!

If indeed others land in the moon, we crazy engineers will land among the stars *grin* ok, possible misuse of the quote, but may still apply! haha

[xheavenlyx]

ice111, one reason we arent (or I arent) very enthusiastic is because:

1. They are multinational and will have many proposals from prospects wanting to join them for GLXP.

2. Considering this is a huge project where 10 - 20 million is the basic cost for a launch (including everything except the rover), I really dont know how OSIR will micro-manage the project. They havent given details of it on their website.

3. I am busy, Ash is busy, and you did add good points to the draft proposal, so we will polish it and email it to them as soon as possible to see what happens.

4. We as a CE team will not ask for boarding, we will work overseas. If you personally have good ideas and want to join them, you can and should take part and go there.

5. Write a full draft and PM it to me and ash for a check. If you too do not have time, then lets have a cuppa tea and relax for a while.

[ash]

*sips a cup of tea*
Okay, here is something I cooked up. Still got a long way to go though. I've written some comments inside.

RE: Proposal for joint participation between O.S.I.R International and Crazy Engineers
Dear Sir/Madam,
We'd like to thank you for taking the time for reading this proposal. In light of the Google Lunar X Prize competition, we believe a joint participation between OSIR and Crazy Engineers can help propell the project to a great success. (Intro needs to be jazzed up more)

Established by Mr Kaustubh on November 2005, Crazy Engineers has grown exponentially to a formidable engineering portal. It consists of members of different engineering disciplines, who range from the University students with fresh ideas to working Professionals with vast experience. This melting pot of unique minds allows us to have interesting discussions and solve a wide range of problems throughout the engineering world. (We'll keep the info about CE short, since we want to focus on the GLXP )

The Google X Lunar Competition is a good opportunity for us as it requires a multitude of engineering skills. We can assist OSIR and consult in technical aspects of the design of the Lunar rover. This includes, but not limited to:
- Mechanical Design
- Electrical Design
- Programming & Interfacing
- Sensors & Image Processing
- Communications

For efficient collaboration, we can assign a few members as representatives of Crazy Engineers to liason directly with OSIR. A section on the Crazy Engineers forum can be specifically set up to open up discussions to all members regarding the Lunar rover.
Hopefully you will consider this cooperation. If indeed a joint effort is possible, we can further discuss more details on how both OSIR and Crazy Engineers can collaborate effectively. (Here's where I'm not sure about. We don't want to send them too much info for them to digest. But then again, we still need to consider xheavenlyx's point about other teams sending in their proposals. Ours has to be damn good).

Please do not hesitate to contact us for more queries and information.
Yours Sincerely,
Mr Engineer

Okay, perhaps is kinda foolhardy to post this where anyone in the world can see, but this is far from the complete proposal. If you guys can work on it more, please PM the draft to xheavenlyx or me

By the way ice111. As much as you wanted CE to join the GLXP, you've hardly introduced yourself here! The active people have long introduced themselves, so perhaps you can head over to the Introductions section, and start a thread about thyself

[xheavenlyx]

*stares at the screen*...WOW!

You ARE fast!

I will read this over, but you have done an awesome job already. Do we need to add anything further. I dont think so. Let some members read it through here then we will send it. Usually it needs to be short and concise as well giving important info to them, you have done that well, if they need more they will ask for it.

[ash]

*grin*

xhx, maybe should just send that proposal soon. No one is really responding to it here.. maybe cause its good enough already? (haha, wishful thinking!) If you want, i'll try adding/changing some bits and send another draft to you for final editing purposes. This weekend, yea? No point in delaying it further

[raj87verma88]

I announce the building of a team for the Google Lunar X. I have talked to a few of my college mates and they are all interested. This is to call on the CE members who are interested in robotics and I know many are seeing the number of posts we have for the CE bot project. I do not wish to make an Indian team or a CE team. Lets make it an international team. In the mean while, will right a project report. I will be thankful to anyone wishing to help me make it. After that I hope to go hunting for sponsors. It is difficult but I will still give it a shot. Man whats the point of working for some other team, we have engineers, we have knowledge, let us make our own team.

[ash]

I still can't get over the OSIR thing. Oh how we were fooled!

I thought a CE Team is an international team already? We've got the forum set up already.. so its quite easy to register here. Just my thoughts, though

[africandream]

Do they have any contest based on real time issues. How easy is the procedure.

[ash]

Originally Posted by africandream

Do they have any contest based on real time issues. How easy is the procedure.

Can you elaborate on what you mean by "real time" issues? Do you mean things like jitter and latency in communications?

Since this thread was bumped, here's something interesting to note. The Indian government, with cooperation with Russia, plans to launch a moon rover around 2011-2012. The mission is called Chandrayaan-II.

Click: Googlokhod - Google Lunar X Prize Team from Russia: India announces New Moon Mission

This mission will complement Chandrayaan-I's mission, a lunar orbiter, set to be launched next month or so. Aren't the CEans in India excited? Makre sure you guys take some launch vids yea? Good to see initiatives from other countries!