FTC 2014-2015 Reveal Animation: Cascade Effect

Each year FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) implements a game for teams that dictates the design of their robots. The release of the game is very important, as it marks the beginning of the process that FTC teams go through to design, build, and compete with their robots. The game from last year was called Block Party, and the main scoring elements were the blocks that were placed on the floor at the beginning of each match. During the period of the match the main goal of the game was to pick the blocks up and score them in a pendulum located on the side of the center piece. During the period of the match teams could also hang themselves on a pole and raise a flag.

Last year's game animation: Block Party

This weekend the animation for this year's FTC game was released to teams all around the country. Many reveal events were held in several states. These events gave teams early access to the game animation, which was released on the internet later during the day, and they also gave the teams a chance to see the field put together. This year's game is called Cascade Effect. The main scoring components of the game are the two sizes of wiffle balls that get scattered across the floor when a robot triggers the cascade effect. During the course of the game, the main goal is to take the wiffle balls and put them into one of your team's goals (the tubes that are thirty centimeters, sixty centimeters, and ninety centimeters tall). The points are totaled based off of how many centimeters high you stack the balls up in each goal. One centimeter worth of height is worth a different amount of points in each goal, with the amount of points that it is worth increasing with the height of the goals. In the thirty centimeter goal each centimeter is worth one point, in the sixty centimeter goal each centimeter is worth two points, and in the ninety centimeter goal each centimeter is worth three points.

This year's game animation: Cascade Effect

After the game animation is revealed, many teams start the design process by identifying problems and figuring out how they want to play the game. Since you have a very short amount of time during tele-op period (two minutes) you have to worry about which tasks you want to get done. This is because accomplishing all of the tasks is nearly impossible. For example, in last year's game there was a thirty second period during the end of the tele-op period that allowed the alliances to spin a flag and hang themselves on a bar. It would be very difficult for one robot to be able to spin the flag and hang itself in that period, so most teams chose to either do one or the other. After the teams figure out how they want to play the game, they start coming up with ideas for the design of the robot that cater to their style of play. For example, if a team wanted to be able to push other teams around they might come up with the idea of having four wheel drive to increase drive power. They might also think of increasing the weight of the robot, so other teams couldn't push them around. 

Word Count: 546