Welcome to the 2020 FIRST Robotics Competition: INFINITE RECHARGE℠!
"In INFINITE RECHARGE, two alliances work to protect FIRST City from approaching asteroids caused by a distant space skirmish. Each Alliance, along with their trusty droids, race to collect and score Power Cells in order to energize their Shield Generator for maximum protection. To activate stages of the Shield Generator, droids manipulate their Control Panels after scoring a specific number of Power Cells. Near the end of the match, droids race to their Rendezvous Point to get their Shield Generator operational in order to protect the city!" (FIRST Inspires)
This year's game is simple and complicated. Robots will collect yellow balls (Power Cells) from the ground or from the human station and deposit them on the other side of the field into either a low scoring port or two high scoring ports (Power Ports). The high port has an addition hole in the back of it, which is worth an additional point.
There are three stages to powering up the Shield Generator. To activate the first stage, the robots must score 9 balls in any of the Power Ports. Teams accumulate Points based on which port they score into. Bottom port is 1 pt., high is 2 pts., and the inner high port is worth 3 pts. It doesn't matter how many points a team accumulates to move to the next stage. After the first stage is activated, the robots much deposit 20 more balls in the ports. After that, a robot needs to spin the colored Control Panel (a.k.a. the "Wheel of Fortune") at least 3 full revolutions and no more than 5. That activates stage 2. Then teams much score an additional 20 balls. The last step is to go back to the Control Panel and spin it so it sets for 5 seconds on a particular color that will be given to teams once a team has scored enough balls to activate stage 3.
The end game is in the center of the field, the Rendezvous Point. The robots much lift themselves off the ground using the metal bar of the Generator Switch (a.k.a. hanging teeter-toter), which swings with added weight. Teams get additional points for keeping the Generator Switch balanced.
Our team's first priority is lifting ourselves during the end game by using two hooks on an elevator. This will allow us to stay balanced on the bar without sliding and be able to lift ourselves in the center of the Generator Switch while keeping it balanced.
Our second priority is the color wheel. We will be using a color sensor and encoders to detect how many times we have spun the wheel and the location of the targeted color.
For collecting Power Balls, we will be using a gravity chamber with two flaps on the front and back to keep the balls inside. Our robot will load up with five balls at a times from the human player station and will travel across the field to deposit them in the low port.
We are very optimistic about our simple design and our ability to use sensors, cameras, and ingenuity to be a strong competitor in INFINITE RECHARGE.
This year's game is sponsored by Star Wars, so may the force be with you!
Comments