Last May, Saline Journal introduced readers to FIRST Inspires offerings just after its initial Championship of current four-year rotation to Detroit. [1,2]
Our local high school team, number 5066 and known as “Saline Singularity” started its preparations for the 2019 season on October 2 — with an eye toward being ready to start strong when the latest game challenge is released worldwide this coming January 5 at 10:30am. They compete at FIRST Robotic Competition (FRC) level, the very top of the pyramid. [3,4,5]
Saline Singularity first entered this arena in 2014 with better than a dozen students and respectable rookie year rankings. They’ve steadily improved through each cycle since, and 2019 gives every indication of continuing on that trajectory. [6,7,8,9,10]
At the risk of cliché, FIRST itself describes this as “the ultimate Sport for the Mind” and says that high school “student participants call it ‘the hardest fun you’ll ever have.'” A more substantive picture is likely to be found anecdotally among the serious enterprises that continue to invest in it. Faurecia Interiors sponsors two teams in Ann Arbor. NAVYA gave time off to its local workers so they could cheer in Detroit for their own home team from France. [11,12,13]
One of the larger and more engaging exhibits the November Army Autonomy and Artificial Intelligence Symposium and Exposition. [14]
Our own Team 5066 has received financial backing from Toyota and is among the two hundred backed by key FIRST Inspired benefactor Rockwell Automation. FIRST Robotic Competitions have emerged as a farm team for STEM hiring. In 2018, more than “91,000 high school students on 5,900 FIRST Robotics teams from around the world [spent] 14 weeks building and programming robots and then making their way through a series of district and regional competitions to secure a spot at the world championship. [15,16,17,18]
All of that actually sounds quite exciting. But if it’s like any other “sport,” what sort of preparations go into success on the playing field? How do you keep score?
In essence, points are scored by accomplishing certain tasks during bracketed team play rounds. Within any given round, there are opportunities to increase point accumulation by prioritizing some moves over others, and by working collaboratively among individually operated robots. What, exactly, makes up the elements of each game — and thus the specifically designed robot capabilities — differs from year to year, based on the design challenge. Along with objectives come rules of play, and specific point penalties to be imposed for violations.
On the scheduled date and time, FIRST Inspire releases an animated video that summaries the upcoming game challenge, along with an instruction manual. (The 2018 Game & Season Manual was 133 pages.) In addition to rules regarding play, there are specific criteria that must be met in terms of robot design and fabrication, including component and budget stipulations. [19,20,21,22]
Are these really “robots”? Increasing debate in the main has seemed to suggest that is in question. Suffice it to say that these are FRC robots, and that, so long as entries comply with applicable FIRST Inspire Season Manuals, that will suffice here. [23]
As a final word, however, it is important to understand that this is more than a sport played by robots that are directed by human operators. In many respects, teams set their course for their own success or failure by what they do before they button-up their equipment for their first district competition. These are technical matters, to be sure, involving fundamental understanding of sensors and controller function, balancing hardware versus software considerations, and consistency not just among team mates, but in anticipation of working in accordance with the expectation of others in the arena. [24]
Project management and running things like a business will mean, for some teams this Saturday — both a head of steam when the clock strikes half-past-ten o’clock, but a nimble ability to maximize the opportunity for making further improvements on the fly when Saline makes its debut for District competition in Belleville on March 7. [24,25,26]
References
- “What’s Missing from This Image of the 2018 FIRST Robotics Championship in Detroit?” Dell Deaton (May 3, 2018) Saline Journal.
- FIRST Inspires (home page).
- Saline Singularity Team 5066 (home page).
- “Gather your squad today | FIRST LAUNCH 2019” Official FIRST (December 6, 2018) YouTube.
- “FIRST Robotics Competition Game & Season Info” FIRST Inspires.
- “2014 Season: Team 5066 – Singularity” The Blue Alliance.
- “2015 Season: Team 5066 – Singularity” The Blue Alliance.
- “2016 Season: Team 5066 – Singularity” The Blue Alliance.
- “2017 Season: Team 5066 – Singularity” The Blue Alliance.
- “2018 Season: Team 5066 – Singularity” The Blue Alliance.
- Faurecia Interiors (home page).
- NAVYA (home page).
- Robo’Lyon (home page).
- “Army Autonomy and Artificial Intelligence Symposium and Exposition” (November 28, 2018 – November 29, 2018).
- Toyota (home page).
- Rockewell Automation (home page).
- “Science, Technology, Engineering and Math: Education for Global Leadership” US Department of Education.
- “Dexter High’s ‘Dreadbots’ head to robot FIRST Chamionship in Detroit” Lauren Slagter (April 18, 2018) mLive.
- “2018 FIRST Robotics Competition – FIRST POWERUP Game Animation” Official FIRST (January 6, 2018) YouTube.
- “2017 FIRST Robotics Competition STEAMWORKS Game Animation” FIRSTRoboticsCompetition (January 7, 2017) YouTube.
- “FIRST STRONGHOLD Game Reveal” FIRSTRoboticsCompetition (January 9, 2016) YouTube.
- 2018 Game & Season Manual, FIRST: For Inspiration & Recognition of Science & Technology.
- “What Is A Robot?” Matt Simon (August 24, 2017) Wired.
- “Behind the Lines S03E06: Designing for Controlability with Jared Russell from Team 254” RoboSports Network (December 14, 2016) YouTube.
- “Behind the Lines S01E01: Things Every Team Should Know” RoboSports Network (September 24, 2014) YouTube.
- “FRC Events” FIRST Inspire.
