On Saturday, January 4th, FRC® teams from all over the world celebrated the beginning of the 2014 season by watching the livecast of this year’s game announcement. Excitement was building throughout the event, which featured FIRST® founder Dean Kamen and National Advisor Woodie Flowers, as well as several game designers. Towards the end of the broadcast, the game animation of Aerial Assist was finally presented, to the joy of FRC® team members and mentors everywhere.
As in previous years, each match features two opposing alliances, each with three robots. The field is split into three zones, one blue, one white, and one red. Hanging over the middle of the field is a truss suspended five feet in the air. The drivers’ stations sit on either end of the field and have two high goals on top and a low goal on either side. This year’s game pieces are two-foot-diameter balls, which are colored red or blue depending on which alliance they belong to.
Before the match begins, robots can already be equipped with one ball. During the 10-second autonomous period, when robots run off of pre-loaded programs, they are able to score into the goals or move forward into a different zone to gain points. However, the goals will be alternately lit, indicating whether they are “hot”; scoring into “hot” goals is a 5-point bonus. After the autonomous period, tele-op, when drivers and operators manually control the robots, begins. To get points, teams can shoot into high or low goals or toss the ball over the truss and catch it. They can also get points by assisting each other to pass the ball through different zones.
Everyone on Miss Daisy was amazed by the complexity and competitiveness of Aerial Assist. The day after kick-off the team held a brainstorming session so that members could play a mock game, strategize, and sketch their own designs. We on Miss Daisy hope that we can make this season great!
