Steve Hassenplug
No stranger to MINDSTORMS, and a star of the MPD (MINDSTORMS Developer Program), MCP (MINDSTORMS Community Partners), and NXTLOG Contributor Steve Hassenplug is thrilled to be judging this challenge (plus he gets to build someone else's winning models for a change!).

From:
Lafayette, Indiana, USA (close to Chicago and Indianapolis)

What I do besides building with MINDSTORMS:
To make money, I'm a software engineer.

Experience with MINDSTORMS:
In the last seven years, I've participated in many kinds of competitions around the world (all over the US, Canada and Billund, Denmark). I compete with LEGO robots against both LEGO and "sheet-metal" robots, with a great deal of success. I've coached an FLL team for five years, and created a local LEGO MINDSTORMS club.

Experience with MINDSTORMS Sumo:
I entered my first MINDSTORMS Sumo in Feb 2001. It was just a few weeks after I got my second RCX. My robots finished first and second.

I've tried to keep track of my results, but I'm sure I've forgotten a few.

In the last 6+ years, I've built over 100 MINDSTORMS sumo robots, entering as many as 8 in a single event. Of the 50+ different events I've entered, I've finished first over 30 times, and have finished both first and second more times than I can remember.

Visit Steve Hassenplug on NXTLOG: hassenplug