Game Discription

FIRST Stronghold is played by two al­liances of three teams each. Al­liances com­pete against each other to breach their op­po­nents’ de­fenses, known as outer works, and cap­ture their tower. They score points by cross­ing el­e­ments of their op­po­nents’ outer works, scor­ing boul­ders in their op­po­nents’ tower goals, and sur­round­ing and scal­ing their op­po­nents’ tower it­self.

Official Game Rules

FIRST STRONG­HOLD is played on a 27 ft. by 54 ft. field. Each al­liance com­mands one tower, five de­fenses, and a ‘se­cret pas­sage’ which al­lows their ro­bots to re­stock on am­mu­ni­tion, called boul­ders. One de­fense in each al­liance’s set of five, the low bar, is a per­ma­nent part of the field. Three de­fenses are se­lected strate­gi­cally by the al­liance prior to the start of their match. The fi­nal de­fense changes pe­ri­od­i­cally by au­di­ence se­lec­tion.

Each FIRST STRONG­HOLD match be­gins with a 15-sec­ond au­tonomous pe­riod in which ro­bots op­er­ate in­de­pen­dently of hu­man con­trol. Dur­ing this pe­riod, ro­bots at­tempt to cross op­pos­ing de­fenses and score in the op­pos­ing tower.

Auto Point Values:

• Reaching a defense – Value: 2
• Crossing a defense – Value: 10
• Boulder in a low tower goal – Value: 5
• Boulder in a high tower goal – Value: 10

Dur­ing the re­main­ing 2 min­utes and 15 sec­onds of the match, called the teleop pe­riod, ro­bots are con­trolled by stu­dent dri­vers from be­hind their cas­tle wall at the end of the field. Teams on an al­liance work to­gether to cross de­fenses, weaken the op­pos­ing tower by scor­ing boul­ders in it, and fi­nally sur­round, scale and cap­ture the tower.

Teleop Point Values:

• Crossing a defense – Value: 5
• Boulder in a low tower goal – Value: 2
• Boulder in a high tower goal – Value: 5
• Challenging the tower (per Robot) – Value: 5
• Scaling the tower (per Robot) – Value: 15

Al­liances are ranked by a com­bi­na­tion of their Win-Loss-Tie record, breach suc­cess, and tower cap­ture suc­cess. A win is de­ter­mined by com­par­ing to­tal match points be­tween al­liances at the end of the match and earns an al­liance two rank­ing points. Ties earn an al­liance one rank­ing point. Cap­tur­ing an op­po­nents’ tower at the end of the match earns each team on the al­liance one rank­ing point. Breach­ing an op­po­nents’ outer works by cross­ing four of the five de­fenses twice earns an ad­di­tional rank­ing point.

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General Robot

We would love for you to meet our 2016 robot: Theia! This year’s challenge pushed the team to rethink compatibility and reliability for our robot. A pivoting roller-bar intake feeds a pneumatic powered catapult that utilizes our powerful camera system to shoot with accuracy. The robot is equipped with an eight-wheel chain powered drive that can overcome any defense with ease, while easily passing under the low bar. All together, Theia employs its strengths to be the smallest robot with the biggest ideas and breakthroughs the team has ever built