Robots Align to Prevent FIRST City From Destruction by Asteroids

By Sarah Schuller, Meghan Valade, and Anne Schaller

A distant space skirmish has sent asteroids hurtling toward FIRST City. Unless the robots can power up a shield generator, destruction will ensue.

That’s the challenge that the Foley Freeze and 4,000 other teams around the world face with the 2020 season “Infinite Recharge.” Teams of three robots each – divided into a red and blue alliance – compete to collect power cells, operate a control panel, and then balance the generator switch before time runs out. Teams can earn regular points as well as special points, called ranking points, which help them get to the playoffs of the competition.

In this year’s game, FIRST challenges students to work together to solve complex challenges. During the 2020 season the team will learn and improve upon the real-life skills that lie at the core of FIRST Robotics. 

Robots line up opposite each other on the Initiation Line, a white line that is located 10 feet from the face of the player station. For the first 15 seconds each robot has to move and attempt to score points in autonomous mode, meaning it runs on pre-programmed software. After that, human drivers are given two minutes and fifteen seconds. Teams score for moving off the line as well as completing other tasks.

The main goal is to score small balls, which are called power cells, into slots in a tower called the power port. The power port has three possible scoring areas – one low rectangular port, one high rectangular port, and a smaller circle within the highest port. This circular port will award the teams with the most points. 

Scoring power cells will also allow teams to activate a control panel, which is a colored wheel that spins. The control panel first has to be rotated a specific number of times and then stopped on a specific color, based on how many power cells have been scored. The game requires 49 power cells to be shot into the power port to finish.

The last phase of the game is teams’ last opportunity to gain points by climbing. If two robots can climb and balance the generator switch they will gain a ranking point. They can also get a ranking point by having three robots climb. A perfect climb is worth 90 points all by itself. “The whole shield generator and control panel is new. We’ve had games where we had to balance and hang but never together.” Said Kevin Swift, assistant coach. 
 

To learn more about the game, visit https://www.firstinspires.org/