The Game
The 2010 FRC game is BREAKAWAY, a game similar to soccer... except there are 12 balls,
4 goals, and bumps on the field. Two alliances - of three teams each - face off, each trying
to score goals into the other's net.
Making things more complicated are the two sets of bumps on the field. These bumps seperate
the field into three parts, and make getting from one part to another quite difficult. Robots
can either go over the bumps (and risk toppling over) or go under a tunnel in the middle.
However, this tunnel is only 18 inches tall.
Additionally, teams can score bonus points by having their robots do a chin-up on two central
towers. As usual, each match lasts 2 minutes, with the first 15 seconds being "autonomous mode".
This means that all robots must act without team member control for the first 15 seconds.
Here is a video overview of BREAKAWAY:
Our Robot
Meet our 2010 robot, Ellis. We named it after Dave Ellis, one of Team 20's longest-serving and
most devoted mentors, who passed away last year. Ellis's design reflects our priorities in playing
the game, and the many hours of engineering and building our students and mentors put in this year.
From the outset, we saw that there would be three distinct roles for robots, corresponding to
the three zones on the field: offence, midfield, and defense. Team 20 decided on an offensive
bot that could also score from midfield. This meant that our robot had to be fast and agile,
but also have a strong kicker. To fit in the tunnel, we also needed a squat robot.
To get the maneuverability we needed, we decided to use a crab (swerve) drive. Each of the
4 wheels on our robot was mounted on a turntable. The 4 turntables were chained to motors, so
that our wheels could change orientation.
For our kicker, we used a spring-loaded system. Our kicking arm was attached to a large
torsion spring, which a winch pulled back. The amount of energy stored in a spring
can be accurately and easily adjusted, thanks to Hooke's Law. Therefore, using a spring instead
of pneumatics gave us more control over our kicking strength. To pull back and release the kicker,
we designed a shifting gearbox with a ratcheted gear and a free-spinning gear. We attached this
gearbox to a special cam, which pulled a chain to pull back the kicker.
Finally, we added rollers to hold the ball to our robot while we moved around. These rollers
would be adjusted several times before the end of the season.
The Competitions
2010 proved to be one of Team 20's most successful seasons in its 19-year history.
This year, Team 20 signed up for two regionals: the BAE Granite State Regional in Manchester, NH;
and the WPI Regional in Worchester, MA (it's pronounced WOO-steh, get it right). We also attended
Championships in Atlanta, GA.
The Granite State Regional is a special place for Team 20: there, FIRST Robotics was established
and there, the first ever FIRST Robotics Competition was held in 1992. Team 20 was one of only
28 teams present that year: today, the competition hosts 45 regionals and thousands of teams.
Where Granite State is FIRST's oldest regional, Worchester is its newest. The event, held at
Worchester Polytechnic Institute, opened for its inaugural year in 2010.
At the Granite State Regional, we won the Autodesk Excellence in Design Award for our animation,
which you can watch here . We were also rewarded for our
successful business plan with the Entrepreneurship Award.
We were crowned champions of the WPI Regional, along with teams
Team 230, the Gaelhawks and Team 228,
GUS. Our alliance was undefeated in the
elimination rounds. Our kicker, able to loft the ball over defending robots, terrorized other
teams, and some considered us in contention for the best offensive robot in FIRST.
In addition, we won the Creativity Award for making a change to our robot between the two regionals.
We upgraded our rollers to a vacuum that held the ball in place, a change that drastically improved
our robot. Through the use of computer modeling and a back-up robot we keep at home, we were able
to create the vacuum during the week between competitions. Team 20 also shared the Coopertition
Award with Team 230. The Coopertition Award is given to the best alliance partner in the regional.
Between WPI and Championships, we made yet another change. The vacuum went out; new grippers,
designed to "bite" down on the ball, clamping it in place, went in. Armed with Gripper 3.0, our
robot handled the ball better than ever.
In Atlanta, Team 20 performed formidably in Newton Division. We were selected by Team 2757,
Built and Dangerous (B.A.D.) and Team 668,
The Apes of Wrath to form an alliance. Besides
having some of the coolest names in all of robotics, our alliance partners also helped us reach
the semifinals of the division. We were knocked out by the winners of the entire championship,
and our team placed within the top 48 in the world.
The Game
Our Robot
The Competitions
A crab drive robot - not ours. Picture from Team 1015
Team members at the WPI Regional
Excited crowds of robotics students and mentors watch the WPI regional. Notice the stands are completely packed!