Ed Board was thrilled to see Honda’s ASIMO robot come to SMU. It is a particular pleasure to see the world’s most advanced humanoid robot in the flesh, or lack thereof. This little guy can do stuff that robotic engineers only dreamed of five, 10 years ago.

The problem is that he really is quite little. ASIMO is just barely 4-feet-tall. And when he’s standing on a stage at the same height as the dozen or so rows of chairs in the audience, he’s nigh-impossible to see. Even from the third row, it was virtually impossible to see the robot completely; he was constantly obscured by shoulders, heads and a plunger (one particular attendee wore a plunger on his head and apparently forgot about it when the show started).

So not only do you have the mere presence of people between you and the stage to contend with, but you have the presence of people actively trying to see around the heads of the people in front of them.

Trying to see the stage three rows from the front was an exercise in futility, what with everyone craning their necks in all directions and rising out of their seats in order to see clearly. Ed Board can only imagine that the effects of this increasin exponentially the farther away one got from the stage.

Where’s the love? The Umphrey-Lee Ballroom is hardly designed for showcasing a robotic midget on a stage elevated maybe a foot off the ground. If you want to encourage SMU students to come to events like this, the least you can do is stage it in such a way that it can actually be seen. Something as simple as a row of reserved seats for SMU students would help.

This also applies to the Tate Lecture Series. When an event is staged on campus that students are encouraged to attend, it is rather discouraging to find that no seats have been set aside for SMU students. It’s nice that SMU students get free admission to such events, but free admission does little when there are no seats left for students.

The SMU events staged on campus are great opportunities for education and enlightenment. They allow us to hear directly from people who play a role in shaping current events. A little consideration for the people who comprise the target audience of these events would go a long way. If ASIMO had to sit in the back row, ASIMO would agree.