I understand that some of the show is “planned” so specific items that otherwise would not be in the yard are there but I was wondering…It seems to me that the two teams always seem to choose different approaches to building their machines. Do you know if the designs of the two “experts” are planned out so they build their machines differently to make the contest more interesting?

-- Rick Whisamore (rick.whisamore@wcom.com), February 15, 2001

Answers

Quoting from Jeff's excellent FAQ on the process:

"RDF finds the experts, and assigns them to the teams. Each expert knows in advance what the challenge is to be, and has submitted suggested designs, with a critical parts shopping list. The team meets their assigned expert the night before the build in the hotel bar, and a running joke is that you can't ask what they do for a living. All we found out the night before about our last expert was that he was an amateur league cricket player."

Does that do it?

Brian

-- Brian Flynn (bflynn@nc.rr.com), February 15, 2001.

Thanks for the help but I don't think that answers my questions exactly. You said experts "submitted suggested designs." I understand that but I am wondering if from those suggestions the experts are told to follow a particular design so the two teams use different designs.

-- Rick Whisamore (Rick.Whisamore@wcom.com), February 15, 2001.

They usually choose experts that are 'experts' in a particular way to do a challenge, but the teams aren't obligated to follow the expert's suggested design direction. The season 3 missile launchers episode is the best example. One expert was a compressed air systems designer...go figure! he submits a design solution of an air cannon...and the other expert built clay pigeon launching machines, and guess what! he submitted a design for a spring l oaded launching arm (which of course Bowser then ignored and choose to do a leaf- spring crossbow machine)...

-- Ryan Gavigan (gavigan@soyokaze.biosci.ohio-state.edu), February 15, 2001.

I think Ryan has it a bit closer then...experts submit the designs, but RDF chooses which experts to use on the show. Just by the fact that they choose, they can control the difference in designs.

Brian

-- Brian Flynn (bflynn@nc.rr.com), February 16, 2001.