Last Saturday, January 5, FIRST Robotics Team 587, the Hedgehogs traveled to Raleigh to attend this year's unveiling of the task their robot will have to perform in competition. Arriving early in the morning, dozens of teams from across the state gathered in Dorton Arena at the North Carolina State fair grounds to watch a video explaining the game.
Named, "Ultimate Ascent," this years game will feature two teams of three robots each. These bots will have to pick up and throw a Frisbee into one of 6 goals rewarding various amount of points during a 2 minute and 15 second match. The match opens with 15 seconds of autonomous scoring, where the robots drive themselves, then the players take over for the rest of the match. Two players on both ends of the field will put more disks into play. Located over the drivers stations are goals for the robots to score in, the higher goals rewarding more points. Two metal pyramids located on either side of the field also reward points at the end of the match if a robot manages to climb and suspend itself from one of the rungs. This will be a challenging year, getting over a hundred pounds off the ground isn't easy.
After the tarp was pulled off a mock-up playing field, the teams were allowed to explore and take notes about the various facets of the field and collect kits of parts for building robots. Many teams also competed in the robot quick-build, where teams were timed with creating a capable robot, and the human game, where players ran around the field playing to learn the rules and strategies of the game.
The Hedgehogs will be aloted one month to build and and program the robot then ready it for competition. Later in the year the team will travel to Raleigh, NC, South Carolina, and Georgia to compete for a spot in the national rounds.
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