Ultimate Ascent is played on a 27′ x 54′ field. There are two pyramids placed in the center of each half of the field. There are five scoring locations located on the opposite end of the field from the alliance station where that teams drivers are. Four of the goals are located on the opposing alliance’s wall. The fifth is part of the pyramid at that end of the field.
Matches
Ultimate Ascent matches are two minutes and fifteen seconds long. The first fifteen seconds are called the autonomous period. During this period the robots follow a set of pre-programmed instructions. Following this period the teams take control for the teleoperated period. Drivers control their robots, attempting to score discs into the goals at the opposite end of the playing field. The robots also can climb their alliance’s pyramid at the end of the match to score additional points. In the final thirty seconds the human players can throw their six colored discs into play over the alliance wall.
Scoring
Teams start with up to 2 or 3 discs on the robot at the beginning of the match. Robots which begin touching the carpet behind their colored Auto Line may have three discs; others may have only two. They can score these in autonomous or wait for the teleoperated period. Only the 6 discs of an alliance’s color count when scored on top of its pyramid. White or opposing colored discs will not count if scored in the pyramid. Since the human players may not put any colored discs in play until teleoperated, scoring in the pyramid is not possible in autonomous. Teams can score points as follows by scoring discs into goals:
The match ends with robots attempting to climb pyramid game elements located on the field. Robots earn points by climbing the pyramid based on how high they climb. Levels are divided by the horizontal bars on the pyramid, with from the ground to the first bar being level 1. The following is the breakdown of the scoring:
In Rebound Rumble, each match is 135 seconds long, and consists of 3 periods.
Hybrid – first 15 seconds. Code on the robots is remotely activated, and robots may react to sensor inputs and commands programmed into the robot’s onboard control system, or a member of the team can use the Kinect Sensor to send commands to a robot remotely. The robot attempts to score baskets to earn extra points.
Teleoperated – 105 seconds, starting after the Autonomous Period. Humans using a console drive their robots around the field, trying to score points by shooting game pieces into an of their team’s baskets.
End-game – final 15 seconds. At fifteen seconds to the end, teams try to navigate their robots onto their team’s colored bridge and score points by balancing 1, 2, or 3 robots on it. Alternatively, both alliances can try to balance two robots (one red and one blue) on the central ‘Coopertition’ bridge to earn Coopertition Points.
Field
The field is a carpeted area 27 feet by 54 feet designed to resemble a basketball court. Either side has a driver station and an array of basketball hoops. There is one low hoop, two middle hoops, and one high hoop. Across the narrow dimension of the field a 4 inch high wall, along which are placed three tilting bridges at a height of 12 inches. The bridges at the edges are color-coded for each alliance, and the center bridge, called the Coopertition bridge, is available for both alliances.
Scoring
The following is how many points baskets are worth during Hybrid and Teleop phases.
In Logo Motion, each match is 135 seconds long, and consists of 3 periods.
Autonomous – first 15 seconds. Code on the robots is remotely activated, and robots may react to sensor inputs and commands programmed into the robot’s onboard control system. The robot tries to score Ubertubes onto pegs on the scoring grid.
Teleoperated – 105 seconds, starting after the Autonomous Period. Humans using a console drive their robots around the field, trying to score points using any game piece except for Ubertubes.
Minibot/End-game – final 15 seconds. At fifteen seconds to the end, the tower bases flash their alliance color. Minibots may be deployed onto the towers in the final 10 seconds to score extra points. They may only be deployed during this period. The robots can still score the game tubes.
Field
The playing field for Logo Motion is 27-feet wide by 54-feet long, and is made of gray carpet. On each end of the field, there are scoring grids immediately in front of the alliance stations, where robots are remotely controlled by its drivers. Each alliance station is protected by a wall, known as the alliance wall. On each alliance wall, there are two scoring grids. Each scoring grid has 9 pegs arranged like a square. Each row is 37 inches above the next, except on the outside columns in each grid, where the bottom peg is only 30 inches above the ground. There are openings in the alliance wall, called feeding slots, in every corner, where an alliance member may enter playing pieces into play. However, to get from the scoring grid to your alliance’s feeding slot, you must transverse the field. Thus, many teams elect to throw tubes onto the field and have their alliance’s robots pick them from the ground. Four towers with cylindrical bases are in the middle of the field. The towers are used in the endgame for alliances to earn up to 30 or more points. To assist teams in driving and programming a robot through an almost completely open field, there is colored tape on the floor to allow for sensor calibration and to create visual reference points. Furthermore, the tape delineates areas where certain robots may or may not traverse.
Scoring
The following is how Ubertubes are scored as they are hung on the end field walls, during the autonomous period.
On bottom row
2 Points
On middle row
4 Points
On top row
6 Points
The following is how game pieces are scored as they are hung on the end field walls, during Teleoperated mode. Any tube that is part of a non-Ubertube triangle-circle-square group (depicting the FIRST logo) is worth double of the listed points.
NOT Hanging
0 Points
0 Points
Hanging on Bottom Row
1 Point
2 Points
Hanging on Middle Row
2 Points
4 Points
Hanging on Top Row
3 Points
6 Points
The following is how the mini-bot race is scored during the end game period. The end game is a race between four mini bots to reach the top of the tower poles on the field.
Robots play Breakaway on a 27 by 54-foot rectangular field known as the field. The field is bordered by a set of guardrails and alliance walls. There are two “bumps” in the field that divide it into three zones. During matches, the robots are controlled from alliance stations located outside the field at both ends. These rectangular zones consist of three-team player stations that provide connectivity between the controls used by the robot operators and the arena. Goals are located at the corners of the field, and extend behind the alliance wall and adjacent to the player stations. After goals are scored, human players must pick up the balls and pass them to the center of the alliance station to be placed on a ball return rack, after which they will re-enter play at midfield. Teams are penalized if balls are not re-entered within a set time limit.
Scoring
Balls are kicked or herded into goals located in the corners of the fields. There are two goals for each alliance, adding up to 4 goals total.
Scored Ball — 1 point
At the end of the match, bonus points are awarded for robots that cling onto either of the two towers in the center of the field. More bonus points are awarded if alliance robots can suspend themselves from the robot clinging onto the tower.
Suspended Bot — 2 points
Bot Suspended From Another Bot — 3 points
The following is how game pieces are scored as they are hung on the end field walls, during Teleoperated mode. Any tube that is part of a non-Ubertube triangle-circle-square group (depicting the FIRST logo) is worth double of the listed points.
Starting Positions
Each round lasts two minutes and fifteen seconds. In the first fifteen seconds of a round, the robots run in autonomous mode, then there are two minutes of game play during which robots are user-controlled. The game is played by two three-robot alliances with each team starting one robot in each of the three sections of the field. At the beginning of a match, every robot must be touching either one of the bisecting bumps or an alliance wall. Also, at the start of the match each of the 12 balls in play must be placed at one vertex of a six foot by six foot gird. There are two grids marked at either ends of each of the three zones.
Lunacy is played on a rectangular field that is 54′ by 27′. This field is a material called ‘Glasliner FRP’ and is referred to as ‘Regolith’. The regolith is designed so that the robots, which have special mandated wheels that they cannot modify in any way, shape or form, have reduced traction, mimicking the effect of low gravity that would be seen by a robot driving on the moon.
Scoring
Moon Rocks (Orange and Purple)
120 available
2 pts each
Empty Cells (Orange and Blue)
Up to 8
2 pts each
Super Cells (Green and Purple)
Up to 8
15 pts each
Total score for the alliance is the total number of points scored by placing Moon Rocks, Empty Cells and Super Cells in the trailers of all of the robots of the opposing alliance, less any deductions for penalties.
Game Play
The goal of the game is to score as many of the game pieces in the opposing side’s trailers as possible. Robots start out in front of the opposite alliances’ human players. There is a 15 second autonomous period, during which robots operate according to programs that teams download to their robot, and a 2 minute Teleoperated period, where robots are driven and controlled by a human drive subteam at one end of the field. Empty cells (also worth 2 points) must be handed to a robot by the “payload specialist” at the mid-field position known as the “outpost”. The robot must deliver the Empty Cell to their human player on one of the corners in order to get a Super Cell that is worth 15 points. A robot can only carry one Empty Cell at a time. Super Cells can only be put into play during the last 20 seconds of play, and only if the human player has been delivered an Empty Cell.
FIRST Overdrive is played on a 54 ft (16 m) by 27 ft (8 m) carpeted field, divided lengthwise by a fence median to create a track, and separate the field into Red and Blue zones. The fence is crossed by an overpass marking the red and blue finish lines, and hold the game pieces: 40 in (1,016 mm) diameter inflated balls called “Trackballs”. Two three-team alliances race around the track in a counter clockwise direction while manipulating the trackballs to score points.
The game is made up of two scoring periods. The first 15 seconds of play is the Hybrid period in which robots are autonomous, and may also respond to certain digital signals sent by team members designated as “Robocoaches”, who are stationed at the corners of the track.
The next two minutes of play is the Teleoperated period. At this time, robots are fully radio controlled by the team operators standing at either end of the field.
Scoring
During the Hybrid period, robots traversing the field in a counter-clockwise direction score:
8 points for each of their Trackballs knocked off of the overpass
8 points for each of their Trackballs passed over the overpass
4 points whenever their robot crosses a lane marker
4 points whenever their robot crosses their opponent’s finish line
4 points whenever their robot crosses their finish line
2 points whenever their trackball crosses their finish line
The Hybrid Period
Hybrid period is a new addition to an FRC game. Rather than the pre-game autonomous modes of previous years where robots were prohibited from receiving input from humans, robots may receive signals via an infrared (IR) remote control or visible light from a designated Robocoach during the Hybrid period. The number of different IR signals the IR board included in the kit of parts is physically able to receive is 4. The number of distinct commands that are allowed to be sent is also 4, thus ruling out multi-signal combinations.
The Rack ‘n Roll field is dominated by ‘The Rack’, a large metal contraption with three levels of hanging metal bars, with each level having 8 arms evenly spaced in an octagonal manner. Each arm (also known as a ‘spider leg’) has space for two game pieces. Any more pieces placed on a spider leg beyond the first two are ignored for scoring purposes. At the beginning of the match, the rack is arbitrarily translated or rotated within three feet of the center of the field in order to give some randomness and to encourage autonomous modes that do not depend on dead-reckoning. At the top of the Rack are four green-colored lights above the 1, 3, 5, and 7 legs to aid in autonomous-mode tracking.
The game is made up of two scoring periods. The ï¬rst 15 seconds of play is the Hybrid period in which robots are autonomous, and may also respond to certain digital signals sent by team members designated as “Robocoaches”, who are stationed at the corners of the track.
The next two minutes of play is the Teleoperated period. At this time, robots are fully radio controlled by the team operators standing at either end of the ï¬eld.
Scoring
Rack Scoring
The primary method of scoring in Rack ‘n Roll is by making rows and columns of tubes on the rack. A row or column of n tubes is worth 2n points to a maximum of n=8. Note that this includes rows or columns of length 1, so a single tube on the rack that does not form a row or column is worth 2 points. Teams have access to 21 scorable keepers and ringers. This means that the maximum possible score from the rack should be 596 . That is, two rows of 8 ringers, a row of 5 (2 ringers plus 3 keepers), 5 vertical columns of length 3, then 3 vertical columns of length 2.
Robot Scoring
Robot positions at the end of the match are worth bonus points. In Rack n’ Roll, each robot in its alliance end zone that is not touching any field element and has its lowest part 4 or more inches off the ground will score 15 bonus points. A robot that is not touching any field element and has its lowest part 12 or more inches off the ground will score 30 bonus points. Since robots may not be touching any field element, this means that in order to score bonus points, teams will have to depend on their alliance partners to provide mechanisms to lift their robots or will have to have mechanisms to lift their alliance partner’s robots. Since at least one robot must be touching the ground in order to lift the other two alliance robots off the ground, the maximum conceivable bonus points an alliance can score is 60 points.
Game Play/Pieces
The game pieces in Rack ‘n Roll are inflatable toroidal pool toys. There are 3 styles: Keepers, Ringers, and Spoilers. Keepers are tubes with lettering that are placed only during autonomous mode and, once placed, override any pieces placed later for scoring purposes. Ringers are undecorated tubes that are delivered onto the field either by human players via chutes, or are picked from the floor. Nine ringers of each color start on the field in the opposing team’s start area (so the 9 blue ringers are in the red alliance’s end zone, and vice versa). The other nine start behind the end wall, to be given out by human players. Spoilers are colored black, and cause the spider arm holding them to be ignored for scoring purposes. Spoilers can be removed or repositioned on the rack by robots multiple times. Each alliance starts with two spoilers, accessible by their human players.
Each match of Rack ‘n Roll is 2 minutes 15 seconds long, divided into three segments. The first segment is a 15 second autonomous period, where robots may attempt to place keepers onto the rack without human input. Once autonomous mode is complete, any keepers not already on the rack are no longer valid for scoring. The second segment, the teleoperated mode, is 2 minutes long, during which robots are operated by the drivers and may roam anywhere on the field. In the final 15 seconds, the end game, robots may not enter their opponent’s end zone, but all other rules remain the same from the teleoperated period. Though the head referee may pause the game between the autonomous period and the teleoperated period, the end game follows directly after the teleoperated period.
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.
Triple Play was the FIRST Robotics Competition game released on January 8, 2005. This is the first time the game rules PDF files were made available in late December to teams prior to the official release. The files with an alphanumeric password featuring the game’s name.
This game was the first to feature three robots per alliance. The primary game pieces were called “Tetras” which are tetrahedra made from 1.25 in (31.8 mm) PVC pipe 30 in (762 mm) long. The game was played on a field set up like a tic-tac-toe board, with nine larger goals, also shaped as tetras in three rows of three. The object of the game was to place the scoring tetras on the larger goals, creating rows of three by having a tetra of your alliance’s color at the highest point on the goal. Triple Play was a strategically intensive game, requiring quick thinking on the part of the drivers and operators to optimize the field for their alliance.
Game play
Tetras scored on the top of a goal were worth 3 points, while tetras contained inside the goals were worth 1 point. A goal was “owned” by the alliance whose color tetra highest on or inside the goal. Rows of three owned goals garnered the alliance an additional 10 points per at the end of regulation play. Ten points could also be scored if all three alliance robots were behind the alliance line at their end of the field at the end of the game.
The playing field consisted of nine goals placed at equal intervals across the field in rows of three. At the beginning of each match, the 4 corner goals had hanging tetras, and robots would be able to keep the tetras in the goals only if they knocked them down during the autonomous mode. On the side of the playing field were the automatic loading zones. These platforms were kept with a constant supply of a single tetra for a robot to pick up and bring into play. On the opposing side of the field was the Human Player Loading Zone, where human players could run out and hook a tetra on their robot. By doing this, however, a human player disabled their robot until such a time as they returned to their platform. In the spaces between the center row of goals and the home rows, four “Vision Tetras” were placed. A robot could locate these autonomously to score extra points, but were otherwise treated as regular tetras during regulation.
Terminology
Center row – the row of goals running parallel to the player stations in the center of the field. The middle goal of the center row is a much higher target than the standard goal.
Contained – a tetra that is placed entirely under a goal. No part of the contained tetra is allowed to touch the carpet outside of the goal. However, the tetra is allowed to hang outside the goal if it is only touching the goal itself. A contained tetra is worth 1 point.
Far row – the row furthest from the player station, running along the wall of the opposing player station.
Home row – the line of goals directly along the player station of an alliance.
Owned – an alliance owns a goal on one of 4 occasions: if it has the highest contained tetra in a goal with no stacked tetras, if it has the topmost stacked tetra, if it stacked a vision tetra on any goal OR if the opposing alliance at any point removed a stacked tetra.
Stacked – a tetra that is placed and securely fit on top of a goal. A stacked tetra is worth 3 points.
Tetra – the game piece. A 30″x30″x30″ Tetrahedron constructed entirely of PVC pipe. Came in blue and red to denote alignment.
Vision Tetra – 4 tetras (two of each color) that were marked by a 2.5 in (63.5 mm) wide strip of green plastic that the cameras could detect and steer the robot towards. The vision tetras were placed randomly in one of 8 spots on each side of the field before autonomous mode.
Robot Scoring
