[Dprglist] Flamewheel: a "reliable educational robot" that you apparently set fire to...

[Carl W Ott Jr]

Well -
They did use the tag line ‘unleash your creativity’ - kinda excusing themselves from having to make a point in educational value...

Does seem irresponsible and even childish considering the audience.

where is dfrobot based?  At least in some US states, claiming to be “professional engineers” without having any registered PE on staff can get you in hot water.  I recall reading about a company that performed dynamic aircraft simulations of some kind - who portrayed themselves as an engineering services company but didn’t even have any PE in staff - contractors used by the likes of Lockheed Martin.  As I recall, The Texas Board of Professional Engineering went after them with a ~$5,000 fine and told them to “stop practicing engineering”.   When I next checked, they had removed any website reference portraying themselves as offering engineering services - vuola - problem solved...

One possible moral of the story - maybe not overreacting - but also maybe easy to brush off... let’s see how they react...




> On Mar 6, 2021, at 5:39 PM, Murray Altheim via DPRGlist <dprglist at lists.dprg.org> wrote:
> 
> I'm kinda interested in seeing DFRobot's response to my comment about
> their "Flamewheel" robot, which they promote by setting fire to it.
> 
>  https://www.dfrobot.com/blog-571.html
>  https://youtu.be/uyXzKd1LB2Q
> 
> Rather than repeat I'll just post my comment here:
> 
>  "I'm still trying to understand why anyone would promote the idea of
>   setting fire to a robot, showing how cool it looks while burning
>   accompanied by music, then tell children that you are "professional
>   engineers" that "know exactly what you're doing". You clearly don't,
>   or at least don't take responsibility for what is clearly a highly
>   irresponsible demonstration, knowing that your audience includes
>   children. "If it can survive fire, it can survive anything!" is
>   basically asking someone to set fire to it. There will be some kid
>   out there that will try this at home, now that you've suggested it,
>   given you've even named the robot "Flamewheel". Yes, it has nice
>   wooden wheels, yes, they're flammable. So are my kitchen chairs. I
>   don't set fire to them.
> 
>  "And setting fire to this robot is pointless, it has no research value,
>   no educational value, no value whatsoever in the field of robotics,
>   it proves nothing.
> 
>  "Could you explain the logic of why you feel this dangerous
>   demonstration was a good idea?"
> 
> Am I overreacting? I tried not to use the word "stupid" in my comment.
> In the YouTube video it even shows the flaming robot driving over a
> pile of scrap paper and setting fire to it. Maybe they could include a
> small can of lighter fuel in every order...
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Murray
> 
> ...........................................................................
> Murray Altheim <murray18 at altheim dot com>                       = =  ===
> http://www.altheim.com/murray/                                     ===  ===
>                                                                   = =  ===
>    In the evening
>    The rice leaves in the garden
>    Rustle in the autumn wind
>    That blows through my reed hut.
>           -- Minamoto no Tsunenobu
> 
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