” width=”260″ height=”163″>The day we’ve all been waiting for has at last arrived! Kickoff for the 2010 FIRST Robotics competition took place January 9, as eager robotics team members all over the world watched this year’s Kickoff event via NASA satellite. Team members, mentors and volunteers from 110 FRC teams waited in anticipation at the University of Minnesota’s Northrop Auditorium as this year’s game challenge, “Breakaway,” was unveiled.
FRC teams, including Team 1816-The Green Machine, now have six weeks to design, prototype and build a robot able to meet the game challenge. “Breakaway” involves two alliances of three robotics teams each competing on a 27’x54’ field with bumps, attempting to earn points by collecting regulation-sized soccer balls in their goals. Additional bonus points are earned for each robot not touching the field (they are on a ramp or lifted off the playing field) at the end of the match. Each match consists of a 15-sec. Autonomous period, a 2-minute “teleoperated” period, where human players control the robots to score points, and a 20-second ‘finale’ period, where the robots will attempt to climb a ramp or hang above the playing field.
Kickoff was only the beginning of the day for The Green Machine. The team spent the rest of Saturday and Sunday brainstorming different robot configurations, designs and possibilities. The team also has to decide which additional parts to order now that the game challenge is known. It all has to be wrapped up by February 23, when Federal Express will come and take our robot to the Wisconsin Regional, Milwaukee, WI. We would like to wish all FRC teams good luck for this upcoming Build Season!