Wikipedia:WikiProject Robotics/COTF

For our first collaboration, I suggest talking with as many students, hobbyists, participants in robotics contests, academics, and experts as we can. When you're posting notices where these people might see them, you might or might not want to say something like this:

No one person speaks for Wikipedia, certainly not me, but there is general agreement at Wikipedia that robotics is a current "target". That means...if you have something you want to say to the world about robots, it would be a great idea to join the conversation now. The world is full of people who used to be considered experts of one kind or another, whose own kids get their answers from Wikipedia now instead. If you want to be one of the people responsible for "peer reviews" of robotics articles, you don't have to be a genius and you don't need any track record at Wikipedia, but you have to create an account if you don't have one and post your name at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Robotics/Participants (or email me if you don't know how to do that). A good page to read would be http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Robotics/Outreach. Be aware that the relationships that are forged at the beginning of every Wikiproject tend to dominate articles in that project going forward, so please don't wait.

If you want to meet the most accomplished, most interesting, and nicest people involved in robotics in the world, Wikipedia is the place to do it. Every day, just by responding to people who have edited robotics articles, I wind up chatting with many people who work at the top robotics companies and teach at the top schools. And...my skills aren't that great. If you're friendly, you're willing to learn a little bit about what to do on Wikipedia, and you have something helpful to offer, you will have no trouble making friends.