Seth and Howie

      At McDonald's Around the World

An incomplete history of the many McDonald's visits by Seth and Howie, and a long list of their friends.

Seth and Howie at McDonald's
Wendy, Seth and Howie in 2011. Why, Seth and Howie? Why do you do this?
This story begins in Nagoya, in 1995, at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, a conference so long gone, that it seems to have no residual web presence. According to robotics lore, a large group of roboticists was roaming the Nagoyan streets, in a typical search for a restaurant acceptable to all, with sufficient space to comfortably host the entire group. At some point, Howie said "I'd rather go to McDonald's'' to which Seth replied, "I'm game." And the tradition began.

Sadly, there are no photos from this first adventure. In fact, it would be several years before the thought occurred to them to document their journeys on the page that you see before you.

A Brief Overview

2015: ICRA in Seattle, the NSF NRI PI meeting in DC --- with David Han, Cecile Huet, and Mark Moll
2014: IROS in Chicgao, Shamrock Shakes on St. Patrick's Day, and Howie visits UIUC
2013: London for the Hamlyn Symposium (where Howie gets some attention from the local press) and IROS in Japan --- with Cecile Huet
2012: ICRA in St. Paul (complete with Scientologists), the Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics in London --- with Pierre Dupont, Robert Webster, Nabil Simaan, Venkat Krovi, Shigeo Hirose, and a very tall F. Scott Fitzgerald
2011: IROS in 'Frisco, an English wedding, Boston with Allison, Howie in Egypt --- with Allison Okamura, Jennet Batten, and Ron Alterovitz
2010: ICRA in Alaska
2009: IROS in St. Louis, Matt Mason in Istanbul
2008: AAAI in Chicago --- with Dieter Fox and Howie's favorite Martin
2007: IROS in San Diego, Tijuana --- with Jing Xiao
2006: UIUC, ICRA in Orlando --- with Al Rizzi, Peter Corke, Jing Xiao, Jon Luntz, Andrew Ladd, Kostas Bekris, Max Glick
2005: CMU, ICRA in Barcelona --- with Nancy Pollard, George Kantor, James Kuffner, and Peter Corke
2004: ICRA in the Big Easy
2003: IROS in Vegas, sad Kevin in Shanghai --- with George Kantor and Al Rizzi
2002: Nice, Monte Carlo, ICRA in DC, IROS in Lausanne --- with Mark Moll, Zack Butler, and Teruko
2001: Beijing, ICRA in Seoul, IROS in Maui --- with a few Chinese soldiers