What an exciting day! We met as a team at 7:45 a.m. at Waukesha South High School. After all members were accounted for, we reviewed what the plans were for the day, and loaded up to go to WCTC to view the live NASA feed with other teams. Once there, we saw Dean Kamen and other VIP’s talk about the mission of FIRST, and what their goal this year was. Dean gave his annual homework, which this year was to get more non-FIRST spectators in the stands. After that, we finally got to learn about this year’s game, Breakaway. The game design committee added a new member from Cirque-du-Soleil, and it did not fail to impress. This promises to be the most exciting game yet, and featured standard soccer balls as this year’s ball of choice. At least this year, we won’t have the same problem that we did last year with a shortage of orbit balls. Here is this year’s game animation:

Also, here is the Game Design Committee Video:

As you can see, the game should be fun to watch and fun to compete in! After the live NASA broadcast finished, we went to the gymnasium to view a preview of the field. It helped us to visualize the physical dimensions of the field elements. The center bump’s sheer size and steepness were surprising.

Afterward, we went back to South H.S. to brainstorm possible solutions. But first, we had to celebrate a student’s birthday with pizza, and later, cake. After that, we took a team picture in the gymnasium to document our team’s tremendous growth this year.

Now it was time to start the design process. This began with the laying down of some ground rules to brainstorming:

• Be courteous
• There are no stupid comments
• Do not dominate
• Write it down before you lose it
• The more ideas the better
• Quantity not quality

Our brainstorming results and process is attached in the form of a Word Document. That’s all for now, but check back for updates!