Kickoff anyone?

So today was quite possibly the most exciting day of my teenage life.  What made it so special, you ask?  Well the answer is simple.  Today was the official kickoff date for FIRST robotics.  For any FIRST student, today was Christmas all over again.  We were given two clues this year, hinting at what the game would be.  The first as I posted before was Little Eva.  The second was just the FIRST logo, which is a special positioning of a triangle square and circle.  They're linked together so a lot of people thought that kind of tied in with the whole Locomotion idea.  However, today a lot of different theories were tied together in some unexpected way.  The name of the game is Logomotion.  Long story short, the robots have tubes shaped like the shapes in the logo that are to be scored on posts in scoring zones.  We have "uber tubes" for the autonomous period in the beginning where the robot runs purely by programming.  If we can score tubes on top of those during regular game play then they act as a doubling tool.  They're fantastic bonuses.  Scoring these tubes on their pegs in order of the logo is yet another doubling tool.  Then, in the very end of the game, robots are supposed to release mini-bots (how cool does that sound?!)  that will race up posts.  The first to reach the top receives 30 bonus points.  The second receives 20, third receives 15, and last receives 10.  I personally am psyched to see how these races turn out.  There are a possible 158 points available per alliance in this game, so there will definitely be a lot to take in during the matches.  And by the way, I was partially right with my guess as to the meaning of Eva.  I thought we would need to include some sort of video feedback, and sure enough we do, or at least have been given the tools to.  There are lines on the ground so robots can use light sensors during autonomous, very much like in FIRST Lego League.  Team Paragon spent the day learning the rules and strategizing how we would play the game.  We figured out that the most important parts of the game are speed, autonomous scoring, mini-bot scoring, and tube handling.  If we can get a robot that can master at least two of these things, we can pretty much look at a successful season.  And now the insanity begins.  We have six weeks to build a robot fit to compete.  We're all psyched.  This season is sure to bring on a lot of challenges, but Team Paragon is surely ready to take them on.  As Will.I.Am said today in the broadcast, "It's dope"  :)

Information from: http://www.usfirst.org/