On Saturday January 7, 2012 all of FIRST Team Delphi E.L.I.T.E. met in our schools' cafeteria to watch the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Kickoff. Every year at this time, FIRST releases a new game for FRC teams to build robots to compete in. This year's game is "Rebound Rumble."
Rebound Rumble is played with two competing alliances on a 27' X 54' field. Each alliance consists of three robots. The objective is to score as many soft, foam balls into any of the 4 available hoops on each alliances side of the playing field. Each match is 2 minutes and 15 seconds long. The 4 basketball hoops are arranged in a diamond pattern on the driver's station wall. The top most hoop is worth 3 points, the 2 middle hoops are worth 2 points each, and the bottom hoop is worth 1 point. The match begins with a hybrid/autonomous period in which the robot is executing a pre-programmed function with the addition of an option to control 1 robot on each alliance using a Microsoft Kinect and body motions. Baskets that are scored during this period earn the alliance 3 bonus points per ball scored. During the remaining 2 minutes of the match student drivers control their robots and try to score as many baskets as possible. The match ends with robots attempting to balance on bridges located in the middle of the field. In qualification matches, a robot from each alliance will also try to balance on a white bridge to score additional ranking points for each alliance.
After the kickoff we took a break for lunch and then started brain storming. Our team was more than ready to start thinking of new ideas. We broke off into groups to discuss the possibilities of what goals we could accomplish and how we would accomplish those goals. After a while each group presented their ideas to the entire team. Groups suggested ideas on a drive train, what shape the base of the robot would be, what accessories would be added to capture and shoot the foam balls, what other accessories might be needed to accomplish other game goals, and what strategy we might use. Then, as a team we further discussed which strategies will be used and what the design will look like. At the end of the day, some of our team members went to Austintown Fitch High School to discuss our ideas with a partner team, FIRST Team 3193.
When? Saturday January 7, 2012 @ 10am
Where? Warren G. Harding High School Cafetorium
What? 2012 FIRST Robotics Competition Kickoff
This is the event that kicks off our 6-week build period and send us on our way to competitions around the country in March.
Forget the NBA - this is "where amazing happens"!
IRI (Indiana Robotics Invitational) is coming up soon. July 22nd-23rd to be exact.
I've been informed that the event will be webcast. Check out this page on the 22nd to watch all the great off season action.
Bring home the bacon Delphi!
Team 48 Delphi E.L.I.T.E. finished 5-5 at the St. Louis FIRST Championship, good for 43rd out of 88 teams in the Galileo division. We fought very hard to overcome a few minibot and autonomous inconsistencies during qualifying. Consistency was our bread and butter at the regionals, but the gremlins showed up in St. Louis. I am happy with how the drive team and pit crew remained resilient and competitive throughout in the face of several powerful roadblocks to success.
With a .500 record, we were not in a position to make our own destiny during alliance selections, and it turns out that none of the alliance captains selected Team 48 for the playoffs. However, feedback I've received from veteran teams in our division indicated we were rated high enough on their pick lists to be chosen for the playoffs, and they were surprised we were not selected. Due to a number of factors, the alliance selection process is a traditionally fickle affair, so we were disappointed but not surprised when we were not chosen.
The team had a lot of fun in St. Louis, regardless of on-field results. We spent Wednesday walking around the city and visiting the Gateway Arch and Museum of Westward Expansion, taking the tram up to the top. We had a very fun team dinner together on Thursday night. The most exciting part of the weekend for most of our team was a free concert within the Edward Jones Dome on Friday night, staged by the very popular musical group the Black Eyed Peas. Hall of Fame FIRST robots were up on stage during this concert, and several of the most important FIRST award winners were announced there. This concert and related stage setup costs was donated fully to FIRST by the BEP. The whole affair was professionally recorded for TV and is expected to be edited into a TV special that will air on ABC in primetime on Sunday August 14th. The broadcast of this mesh of pop entertainment and FIRST robotics nationally is hoped to generate new interest in FIRST and STEM education across the nation. We'll see how that goes - I'm interested in seeing how the TV program turns out.
After a short break for team banquets and such in May, we will enter our summer operations, preparing for some low-cost offseason events and related robot upgrade/prototyping projects. The robot remains very competition-ready as is, but I may be calling a few of our sponsors to see if they can help us make a few new parts - we are using the summer time to upgrade our minibots and minibot deployment, and we also need to make a few new spare parts for our roller claw.
