The Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge

[bongosai]

The Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge rewards the most inventive designs made with Freescale's low-end microcontrollers.

Go to the Black Widow Design Challenge site for more information

Any questions? Post them in this thread; we opened it to answer your questions about the Black Widow Design Challenge directly!

(**not intended to answer technical questions**)

[billw]

Ok, I'm confused about the level of documentation required at "step 3" of the design challenge. The entry page has a (required) field for "Documentation, Block Diagram, Schematics, etc." Is a block diagram, a "concept" and some explanation acceptable at this point, or am I expected to have a pretty complete design and documentation already? (I guess: do I have to "finish" my design only if passed onward to round 4, at which point I have to actually implement it, or do I get to save some of the design phase for only after (IF) I make round 4?)

[billw]

I did get an "official" response via the "additional help" email address from the black-widown contest page. It said:

---

Thank you for your interest in the Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge.
As a general guideline, we would encourage you to include as much detail
as possible by using all the categories available on the submission
form. We have received submissions at all levels, but the way that the
judging is structured in the rules, the more detail we have the more
able we are to score an entry highly in all categories. I will also add
that we do not expect you to have a full set of documentation available
and we understand that diagrams and schematics may not be entirely
complete. Any detail you add in these areas, however, will strengthen
your entry.

Best of luck,
John

John Anguiano

---

[idnominal]

Have the 10 finalists been notified?

[Janguiano]

The Finalists were selected and the official notifications are going out. All participants will receive notification as to whether they were selected or not.

John

[Wally]

It's April 16th. The final candidates were supposed to be notified "on or about April 13." If we're lucky enough to be chosen, can we submit our prototypes on or about May 25th?

[devb]

Has anyone gotten their notification yet - either positive or negative?

[FlyByPC]

Haven't heard a thing yet. (Are we to be notified via email, US Snail, or the website?)

[devb]

Thanks for the info.  It says in the project rules that notification is done by email.  I was thinking my notification was swallowed by a spam filter somewhere.

I wonder what the holdup is?  I would at least like to take this off my list of potential things to do.

At least I got a Roomba out of this...

[Wally]

Same here - the dogs hate it!

As for the delay, I was hoping to have heard something last FRI. That would have given me the weekend to work on my prototype had I been one of the chosen ones.

[Janguiano]

The notification to winners went out on April 16, 2007. All others will receive official notification on April 17th.

Please note that the rules called for "on or about" April 13th for notification. Freescale received a tremendous response to this design challenge, with a very large number of entries coming in during the final hours of the challenge. The judges spent considerable time reviewing these entries to be complete in their scoring. The outcome was the need to use the weekend to finalize the results. 

Regards,

John

[idnominal]

Was the notification to winners by email or mail? 

Are you going to post or publish a note on the types of projects and/or names of the 10 finalists here or at the Contest Web page?

Thanks!

[Janguiano]

Notifications went out by email.

John

[Wally]

John,

It's 7AM Eastern time on April 18th and I haven't seen any kind of notice one way or the other.

Wally

[FlyByPC]

Still haven't heard anything either way... (?)  

[devb]

Neither have I, but I don't think it matters anymore.

[Wally]

It may not matter but we did invest some of our time in this contest by completing the first three steps. Yeah, we got T-shirts and yeah, some of us were lucky enough to win a Roomba but I think that Freescale still owes us the courtesy of letting us know how we did. I would also like to know what entries were chosen and why so I can compare them to mine.Given the fact that Freescale claims to have sent notices out to everybody and that a number of us haven't received them make me wonder about a few things:

1) Did they lose our entries?

2) Did a spam filter somewhere block their email?

3) Or (being REAL paranoid here), are they stalling for more time?

Has anybody on this forum received any kind of notice from Freescale?

[devb]

Wally:

I understand what you are saying, and you do deserve answers to your questions.  I would like to see those answers myself.

[billw]

I received The Message wednesday about 12 noon (PDT), apparently
shortly after it was sent (re-sent?) from Freescale (has a 1500 EDT Date: field.)

I didn't make it to the "final ten." :-(  Apparently there were over 1000 entries,
which I understand is quite a large number for this sort of thing...

Ah well.  I got a T-shirt and a coupon and a Roomba, and I think I actually learned a few things (which is pretty unusual for merely entering a contest...)  I liked the stepped format, I think.  I was hoping it would eliminate more competitors, though.

[devb]

I also received my rejection at 3PM EDT.

I was surprised at the >1000 entries.  The Texas Inst. MSP430 contest last year had a $5000 1st prize and a much more lax entry procedure, and it only had around 130 entries.

[Janguiano]

Freescale announces finalists in Black Widow $10,000 Design ChallengeTop ten finalists vie for the grand prize honor at Freescale Technology Forum in June

AUSTIN, Texas - April 18, 2007 - Freescale Semiconductor has announced the top ten finalists in the company's Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge. By competing in the Black Widow challenge, embedded developers and engineering students in the United States, Canada and Mexico discovered how easy it is to design embedded applications based on Freescale's highly integrated 8-bit S08 microcontrollers (MCUs) and backed by the company's extensive ecosystem of development tools, including the recently available USBSPYDER08 Discovery Kit.

Freescale selected the ten finalists from a field of more than 775 participants. Each submission was judged on creativity, design efficiency, technical complexity, number of Freescale devices used, and overall application innovation and usefulness.

Each of the ten finalists will receive a $1,000 (USD) award. In addition, Freescale will invite the finalists to build prototypes of their designs to submit for final judging. Finalists will compete for a $10,000 grand prize and recognition as the most "killer application."

Who:
Top Ten Finalists (in no particular order):

DEFCON 15 Badge
Joe Grand
Grand Idea Studio, Inc.

Myoelectric Hand Prosthesis
Gabriel Herrera, Alan Led Collins, Serio Santana, Missael Maciel, Andres Alvarez, Carlos Soto, Ramon Guillen
ITESO

Ultrasonic mouse & triangulation modules for the Beer Launching Fridge
John Cornwell
ConFocus

Electronic Etch-a-Sketch
Rakesh Reddy
Marquette University

Smart Peltier Ale Thermal Zone Controllers (SPATZ)
Richard Dreher
Cray, Inc.

Apparatus and Method for Automatically Muting Restricted Electronic Devices in Restricted Areas
Gerald Lipovski
University of Texas at Austin

"SprinklerLink" for networked Control of Irrigation Valve Solenoids
Bryan Zublin
Zublin Engineering

Therapeutic massager
Feisal Hurzook, Andrew Webster, Antonio Nucaro
Archronix Corporation

Intelligent Sensor and Servo Actuator System (ISSAS)
Justin Nelson
S-tec

D-AbleScope
Alejandra Jaimes, Lizette Godinez, Erick Arciga, Antonio Martinez, Francisco Heredia, Sergio Carbaj
ITESM CEM

When:
The finalists will submit their completed prototypes by the May 25, 2007 deadline. Freescale plans to announce the top three winners on June 4, 2007. The grand prize winner will receive complimentary travel and accommodations in addition to free admission to the Freescale Technology Forum where the winning prototype will be showcased.

Where:
Freescale Technology Forum
June 25-28, 2007
Orlando, Florida at JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton Conference Centers

Background:
Announced in January 2007, the Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge rewards the most inventive embedded designs with cash prizes and high-profile recognition. The challenge includes free technical training and a discounted price for the USBSPYDER08 development tool supporting Freescale's MC9S08QG, MC9S08QD and MC9RS08KA families of 8-bit MCUs. Registration closed April 6, 2007. For more information, visit www.freescale.com/blackwidow.

About Freescale Semiconductor
Freescale Semiconductor is a global leader in the design and manufacture of embedded semiconductors for the automotive, consumer, industrial, networking and wireless markets. The privately held company is based in Austin, Texas, and has design, research and development, manufacturing or sales operations in more than 30 countries. Freescale is one of the world's largest semiconductor companies with 2006 sales of $6.4 billion (USD). www.freescale.com

Freescale Technology Forum
The Freescale Technology Forum (FTF) has become the developer event of the year for the embedded semiconductor industry. The Forum, which debuted in 2005, has been enthusiastically received by the global developer community, drawing more than 12,000 attendees at FTF events worldwide since its inception. For more information about FTF events, please go to www.freescale.com/ftf.

Media Contacts

Americas
Dale Weisman
Freescale Semiconductor
(512) 895-2795
dale.weisman@freescale.com

Linsey Krauss
Lois Paul & Partners
(512) 638-5316
linsey_krauss@lpp.com

Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. © Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 2007.