Aim High

Aim High
Year 2006
Season Information
Number of teams 1133[1]
Number of regionals 33[2]
Championship location Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia
Awards
Chairman's Award winner Team 111 – "Wildstang"[3]
Woodie Flowers Award winner Rob Mainieri[4]
Founder's Award winner United Technologies Corporation
Champions Team 296 – "Northern Knights"
Team 217 – "ThunderChickens"
Team 522 – "Robo Wizards"

Aim High was the 2006 game for the FIRST Robotics Competition. The competition involved teams competing to gain points by delivering balls into goals and positioning their robots in certain positions on the playing field. The teams took it in turn to provide defense and attack.

Game description

Aim High field.

Aim High is played by two alliances, red and blue, each consisting of three robots. During a 10-second autonomous mode robots are programmed to score into any of the three goals: one raised center goal marked by a green vision target and two corner goals at floor level. At the end of the autonomous period the alliance with the most points will gain a 10-point bonus and will be placed on defense for round two. Rounds two, three and four are each 40 seconds long and are human-controlled rounds. Between rounds two and three the alliances switch from offense to defense or vice versa. At the start of round 4 any alliance can score into the corresponding goals. At the end of the match any alliance can receive bonus points by placing its three robots on a platform below the center goal. The alliance with the most points wins with scoring as follows: 3 points for any ball scored in the center goal, 1 point for any ball scored in the corner goals, 10 bonus points for scoring the highest in the autonomous round and 25 points for placing all 3 robots on the platform at the end (10 points for 2 robots and 5 points for 1 robot).

Field layout

The Aim High field has 6 goals and 2 platforms. Unlike previous years an alliance's goals are on the far side of the field. The field is flat and measures 54 feet (16 m) long by 26 feet (7.9 m) wide.

Alliance station

The alliance station wall is 26 ft (8 m) long and stretches the width of the field. The middle 18 ft (5 m) of the alliance station wall is made of "diamond plate" aluminum from the floor to 3 ft (1 m) high with clear acrylic filling the rest of the 3.5 ft (1.1 m). The outer edges of the wall consist of transparent polycarbonate. Above each alliance station there is a circular goal (the center goal), with a green light above it. The green light is used so that the CMUcam can lock onto it. On the bottom left and right of each alliance station there are two rectangular holes, the corner goals, through which balls can be maneuvered to receive points. In front of each alliance station there is a raised platform.

Tournament structure

The tournament structure of this competition is the same as in previous years. In the regional competitions teams were given access to their robots on the Thursday of the competition weekend. It is a practice day giving each team a number of practice rounds on the regulation playing field. Friday and the morning of Saturday is dedicated to a series of qualification rounds. Each team competed in around seven to ten matches. The number of wins by a team in these matches determines the team's ranking.

Before a lunch break on Saturday the top eight teams from the qualification rounds are asked, in order from the top-seeded team to the eighth seed, to select an alliance of three robots. In contrast to previous years this order reverses for the second selection round and the eighth seed picks first and then backwards to the first seed. This was instituted to make the finals more competitive and balanced compared to previous years.

After the lunch break the finals take place. This is a standard-elimination tournament bracket starting with alliance 1 facing alliance 8, alliance 2 facing alliance 7, and so on. At the end of the finals the last remaining alliance is declared the winner and all three teams are given the right to attend the national competition.

Kit of Parts

There were several changes in the kit of parts in 2006:

Rules

Robots

There were many viable tactics in Aim High. There were ball dumpers, floor shooters, ramp shooters and defensive robots.

Ball dumpers

The primary aim of a ball dumper is to collect balls that are either loaded into it via the human players or that it collects off of the floor. The ball dumper then moves to one of the lower goals and dumps all the balls into the lower goal for a significant amount of 1-point goals. Ball dumpers can be made to be very reliable in autonomous, as they do not depend on aiming and are difficult to block with an opposing ramming robot from across the field. Ball dumping teams must deal with defensive robots attempting to block their transit to and from the human loading zone, as well as teams that may simply block the lower goals to prevent them from dumping.

Floor shooters

Team 573's floor shooter

Floor shooters are the more common of the two shooter varieties. A majority fire mainly from a few feet in front of the ramp. Some (often referred to as ranged shooters, perimeter shooters or distant shooters) can fire from half the court distance or more. Floor shooters, especially those that fire from near the ramp, must contend with great amounts of defense to block their shots and dislocate them from shooting positions. A wide variety of shooting mechanisms can be found on floor shooters including two horizontally mounted spinnind discs, two vertically mounted (for the allowance of backspin), and singular mount spinning discs with a curved output track. Many use the CMUCam to some extent while shooting and a few even had automated turrets that automatically locked onto the target.

Ramp shooters

Ramp shooters are robots that use the height of the ramp to greatly reduce the distance that they must propel the ball. Ramp shooters drive up to their wall and fire balls through a high-mounted shooting mechanism that is statically aimed directly at the goal. Ramp shooters have a disadvantage from floor shooters as they must traverse the ramp, risking tipping, and can only shoot from one location directly in front of the goal. Defense against a ramp shooter is simply to sit in position on top of the ramp, or keep them from getting up the ramp.

Defense

Since scoring in the high goal in "Aim High" is difficult and as there are specific offense and defense periods defense plays a very large role. An effective defense prevents their opponents from gathering balls, dumping balls and shooting balls. A defensive robot is involved in a great deal of ramming and pushing and must have a very strong and durable drivetrain. A low centre of mass is a key asset so that the robot may play up and down the ramp without worry of tipping. In order to prevent robots from scoring a robot playing defense will attempt to attack the corners of the shooting robot causing it to spin. A few defensive bots had nets, walls or other defensive mechanisms to block shots.

Competition season

Events

The following regional events were held in 2006:[2]

The championship was held in the Georgia Dome, Atlanta.

References

  1. ↑ "2006 Annual Report" (PDF). FIRST. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
  2. 1 2 "What Events And Teams Are In My Area?". FIRST. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  3. ↑ "FIRST History". FIRST. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 12 June 2011.
  4. ↑ "Championship – Einstein". FIRST. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
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