FIRST STEAMWORKS is here! On Saturday, January 7th we held our kickoff event at Sheboygan Falls High School. Joining us was the new Red Raider FRC Team 6381, based out of Sheboygan North High School.
We started out in the morning by watching the livestream and then reading the rules in assigned sections. After lunch we got to hear from a few of our alumni. Everyone was able to ask them questions about how being part of RoboRiot helped them in their college and career searches. Being able to better communicate with other people and share ideas was a benefit brought up by multiple of our alumni. As I’m sure you’ve heard, FIRST is more than just robots.
FIRST Scholarships are now available, with $50 million up for grabs. More information is available here: http://www.firstinspires.org/scholarships
We need everyone to read the 2017 Game Manual. It’s available here: https://
firstfrc.blob.core.windows.net/frc2017/Manual/2017FRCGameSeasonManual.pdf
2017 FIRST STEAMWORKS Game Description (Text Below from the Game Manual – Read It!)
FIRST STEAMWORKS, the 2017 FIRST Robotics Competition game, invites two adventurers’ clubs, in an era where steam power reigns, to prepare their airships for a long distance race.
Each three-team alliance prepares in three ways:
- Build steam pressure. Robots collect fuel (balls) and score it in their boiler via high and low efficiency goals. Boilers turn fuel into steam pressure which is stored in the steam tank on their airship – but it takes more fuel in the low efficiency goal to build steam than the high efficiency goal.
- Start rotors. Robots deliver gears to pilots on their airship for installation. Once the gear train is complete, they turn the crank to start the rotor.
- Prepare for flight. Robots must latch on to their airship before launch (the end of the match) by ascending their ropes to signal that they’re ready for takeoff.
Each match begins with a 15-second autonomous period in which robots operate only on preprogrammed instructions. During this period, robots work to support the three efforts listed above and also get points for crossing their baseline.
During the remaining 2 minutes and 15 seconds of the match, the tele-operated period, student drivers control robots. Teams on an alliance work together to build as much pressure and start as many rotors as possible – but they have to be sure they leave enough time to latch on to their airship before the end of the match.
Alliances are seeded in the Qualification tournament using ranking points which are awarded based on a combination of their Win-Loss-Tie record (2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie), the number of times they reach a 40 kiloPascal (kPa) pressure threshold (1 point), and the number of times they start all rotors (1 point)