We’ve been teased for months with animated glimpses of what could possibly be the 2016 FIRST Robotics Competition game, and on January 9, the secret was revealed! FIRST Team 1816 – The Green Machine, joined with 92 other FRC teams at Northrop Auditorium on the University of MN campus, and via webstream around the world, more than 75,000 high school students saw the full reveal of the 2016 game, FIRST ™ STRONGHOLD. Judging by audience reaction at the Kickoff, this game is definitely more challenging and certainly more intriguing because teams can choose combinations of different field elements as part of their defense.
In FIRST STRONGHOLD SM, two alliances of three robots each are on a quest to breach their opponents’ fortifications, weaken their tower with boulders, and capture the opposing tower. Robots score points by breaching opponents’ defenses and scoring boulders through goals in the opposing tower. During the final 20 seconds of the Quest, robots may surround and scale the opposing tower to capture it.
Following the Kickoff livestream, teams were given a Kit of Parts made up of materials and components – with limited instructions. Students have now six weeks (until February 23, 2016) to design, build, program, and test their robots to meet the season’s engineering challenge. We’re readying our Team standard, preparing a strategy to breach the outer defenses and let the six-week frenzy of build season begin!