Each match begins with a 15-second autonomous period, during which time alliance robots operate only
on pre-programmed instructions to score points by:
• leaving their community,
• retrieving and scoring game pieces onto the grid,
• docking on or engaging with their charge station.
In the final 2 minutes and 15 seconds of the match, drivers take control of the robots and score points by:
• continuing to retrieve and score their game pieces onto the grid and
• docking on or engaging with their charge station.
The alliance with the highest score at the end of the match wins!
Participants must use all their brain power to make links of game pieces (three in a row) to score ranking points and move up in the competition to the finals. They grab cones and cube power cells and set them on three different height platforms to score points and electrify the crowd with excitement. Once teams have connected the power cells to the platforms, they must dock and charge up on a power grid in the middle of the arena, getting extra points if they balance it flat.
Once we reviewed the rules, we broke into small teams to discuss what we wanted our robot to focus on – getting points, which game piece to pick up, defending, or balancing the power grid. After several hours of debate, we decided on our final goals for the competitions. To have a working vision system, score cones and cubes on the high scoring platforms, and balancing the power grid during autonomous and manual sections of the competition. We then all went home with drained batteries, ready to come back the next day.
]]>Scholarships available!
See here for information and registration details: Minnesota Robotics Invitational (MRI) Registration
]]>More pictures can be found on our flickr.
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