The Made In Express contest is over, with the winner being an "All Terrain Self-Maneuverable Robot." This is unfair for at least two reasons:
- It's a group entry ("Group entries will not be accepted"), and
- It's been under development for years
I downloaded the source to the robot and the very first file I opened had a history file showing it had been finished in March of 2005! This is patently unfair to individuals who wrote their programs, as the contest clearly promotes, in two or three months.
To be fair, a re-reading of the rules page doesn't restrict time of development to the big graphic on the frontpage that says "May: [Finalists] start to build their ideas into projects," but the "group entry" thing is clearly forbidden.
"Made In Express" was a contest to highlight the use of the freely downloadable "non-professional" versions of Visual Express. I had criticized some of those chosen as finalists, including the robotic entry, because they were clearly overly ambitious for the short development window. I don't want to rehash the particulars, but I hope that if there's a repeat of this contest, the process could be a little more rigorous.