Code Red Robotics’ Build Season has officially begun! Code Red Robotics is a student-run club at IHS and one of 3,000+ teams that compete in the high-school division of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). Each year, FIRST releases a game-like challenge for all high-school robotics teams in the world, which have six weeks to build a 120-pound robot to compete in the game.
Last year, Code Red Robotics won a regional competition and an award that gave them a NASA grant. This qualified them to compete in the World Championships, where Code Red was ranked among the top two percent of teams.
On Saturday, January 7, FIRST released the parameters for this year’s challenge: FIRST Steamworks. The challenge was live-streamed and a 150-page manual was released describing the details of the game. Watch a short animation of this year’s game here: https://goo.gl/dNG9CY
The challenge has three main components. First, robots in two teams of three must gather small balls off of the field and shoot them into goals. There is a high goal, which is difficult to access but gives the team more points, and a low goal, which is easy to access but gives fewer points. Teams can also gain points by taking gear-shaped game pieces from the field and moving them to the “airship” construction in the center of the field, which has up to two human players inside it, who then take the “gears” and assemble them to allow the fan-like blade construction to move. When these fans begin to spin, teams earn additional points. In the final 30 seconds of the match, the players on the field release a series of ropes from the “airship,” and robots must quickly ascend the ropes. If they are hanging in the air and pressing a plate at the top of the rope, the team will earn additional bonus points.
The day that the game released marked the beginning of our six-week build season. Students stay after school each weekday for six weeks and work on the robot from 4:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., as well as from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. each Saturday: a total of 30+ hours per week. These six weeks are very intensive for the students, especially on top of normal schoolwork and midterms.
Completing the robot wouldn’t be possible without community mentors, who graciously volunteer at IHS during build nights. Mentors help by guiding students, teaching how to use machines and sharing their expertise in engineering design and implementation. Faculty advisors and technology teachers from IHS also lend their expertise to Code Red.
Students and mentors will be working tirelessly in the upcoming weeks to complete their challenge. In March, the team will be traveling to two regional competitions, where their robot will compete against other teams from around the world. The public can follow Code Red Robotics on Facebook and Twitter for more frequent updates about the team’s progress.