And we’re off! This has already been a busy day for the team at Full Moon Robotics. Since the field and rules for Infinite Recharge were revealed, we've been studying and discussing the rules, figuring out how to mimic field elements, and finishing the preparations for our work space and materials to get this robot completed. Our mechanical, electrical and programming subteams are already well into building a chassis, wiring up the motors, and programming the control systems. The rest of us have been studying the game manual, trying to understand how points are scored and what kinds of strategies will serve this best.

Here is our summary of the definitions, points, and what we think will be most important/surprising to teams.

The Field

The field is divided into the following major sections

• Two Sectors

  • Red alliance wall touches the red “Sector”

• Two Trench Runs

  • On either side of the field, each containing its alliance’s Control Panel. The red alliance’s Control Panel will be slightly closer to them.

• Rendezvous Area

  • The giant, off-kilter square in the middle of the field. This is raised ~⅜” off the rest of the field, and bounded on each side

  • This is divided into two sections, one for each alliance, which is relevant in the end game

    • The Red Alliance’s Shield Generator is located in its half

Field Elements

• Trench

  • This is the plexiglass structure that supports the Control Panel. It sits in the Trench Run, and has a 28" vertical clearance for robots to pass underneath it

• Control Panel [Section 3.5.1, pg 26]

  • This is the colored wheel that teams can spin to earn points. 10 points for the Rotation Control portion, 20 for the position control

  • The Control Panel only earns points when used at the end of Stage 2 and Stage 3, to spin 3-5 revolutions and land on a prescribed color respectively

• Power Ports [Section 3.4.1.3, pg 21]

  • The 'Power Ports' are the entire structures at each end of the field where the three goal ports are located

  • The high goal is separated into two ports, Inner and Outer. The Outer Port is the larger hexagon (2'6" tall), and the Inner Port is the small 11" circle set back 2'6" [Section 3.4.1, pg 22]

  • The lower goal is the "Bottom Port"

  • There are strips of reflective material on the bottom half of the Bottom and Outer Ports [Section 3.7, pg 30]

• Power Cells

  • These are the scoring elements for this year. They are 7" diameter foam balls. Think a normal dodge ball.

• Shield Generator Structure

  • This is the giant truss structure filling up the middle of the field. It holds the Shield Generator

  • The footprint of the Structure is surrounded by a 1" boundary. Its floor is ~3/8" above the true floor due to an extra protective layer

• Shield Generator

  • This is the large, swinging "coat hanger" hanging from the Shield Generator Structure. Robots hang off this during Endgame for additional points.

  • The Shield Generator is ‘level’ if it hangs within 8 degrees of the horizontal

Match Points

• Autonomous

  • As is common, just moving in autonomous mode will earn five points

  • Any power cells scored during autonomous will earn double points

• Scoring Power Cells

  • There are three levels of Power Ports: Bottom, Outer, and Inner

  • In Teleop, for each Power Cell teams will earn:

    • 1 point for scoring in the Bottom Port

    • 2 points for scoring in the Outer Port

    • 3 points for scoring in the Inner Port

  • These points will be doubled if scored in Autonomous mode (2, 4, 6 points respectively)

• Stages

  • 0 points are available for completing Stage 1

  • 10 points can be earned for completing (“Activating”) Stage 2

  • 20 points can be earned for completing (“Activating”) Stage 3

  • More details can be found in 'Stages' Explained

• Endgame

  • Hanging

    • A robot is “hanging” if it is being supported directly or transitively by the Shield Generator. It is worth 25 points for each robot hanging [Section 4.4.4, pg 36]

      • This means that a hanging robot could pick up another robot, and both would count as hanging

  • Parking

    • Five points will be earned for a robot being “parked” (supported by the ground) in their half of the Rendezvous

Ranking Points

• Win

  • Worth 2 Ranking Points

• Tie

  • Worth 1 Ranking Point

• “Shield Generator Operational”

  • Alliance has earned at least 65 Match Points in Endgame - Worth 1 Ranking Point

• “Shield Generator Energized”

  • Stage 3 has been completed ("Activated") - Worth 2 Ranking Points

• For more details see → [Section 4.5.5, pg 37]

Our Observations

• Defense will be critical in this game

• Endgame is heavily weighted this year

  • Hanging just one robot in endgame is more than scoring 12 power cells in the “middle” goal

• Stages are complicated and might be hard to keep straight during game play

• Creating practice field elements will be difficult for teams

  • Sharing with nearby teams might be very valuable

• No “full court shots” -- the red alliance can’t score by shooting fully contained in their own sector [Section 7.2.3, pg 51]

• The robot's height this year is limited in two different ways. One is that until you are inside the rendezvous during endgame you may not exceed 45". If you want to traverse the field through the trench it must be under 28" [Section 6.3.4, pg 43]