2014 Robotics Kickoff

Saturday, January 4 was the 2014 robotics kickoff, the most important day of the year for every team. The game the robots will play was released, beginning the six chaotic and busy weeks of build season. This year’s game is called Aerial Assist. It is played with large exercise balls, which robots must score in a high goal, worth ten points, or a low goal, worth one point. Extra points are awarded for tossing the ball over a truss in the center of the field or for passing the ball between robots. As always, each match begins with an autonomous round where robots can only act from pre-programming; the drivers can’t touch the controls. The peculiar aspect of this game, though, is that there is no end game. For example, in the 2013 game, Ultimate Ascent (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itHNW2OFr4Y ), robots received points for hanging from a three-tiered pyramid at the end of a match. Aerial Assist is the first game in recent memory without an end game. To see the game animation, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5zWzICG5to.

For the UberBots, this past week has been filled with strategizing, brainstorming, and prototyping. With only six weeks to plan and build a fully functioning robot, extreme dedication is required. The team has already prototyped and decided on a shooter idea and is ready to move on to pick-up, the details of the shooter, and building the base for the robot.

It is a tradition for Team AndyMark to build a robot designed to play the FIRST FRC game in only three days. The video for their completed 2014 robot is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTpj1JZIS_Q, but there are many other intriguing Robot in 3 Days videos to explore.