Gearing up for the 2017 Season – FIRST Steamworks

The Foley Freeze gathered in anticipation on the morning of January 7th to watch the reveal video and delve into the specifics of the 2017 game, FIRST Steamworks. The team spent Saturday learning and understanding the game. Sunday, the team attended mass at Guardian Angels and spent the afternoon strategizing and brainstorming. FIRST teams have six weeks to accomplish their engineering goals and complete a working robot to take to competitions. Both rookie and veteran members of the Foley Freeze are excited to play FIRST Steamworks!

In FIRST Steamworks, alliances of three teams maneuver their robots with the objective of supplying power to their team’s airship. The objective of the game is to collect an abundance of fuel cells, or whiffle balls, and shoot them into a boiler goal to build up steam power for their airship. Teams also place gears on the “airship” in the center of the field to be lifted up into the airship by the human players, who spin the rotors to help score a high number of points for their team. The final objective of the game is to board the airship in the last thirty seconds of the match. Using only a rope, teams are challenged to have their robot hoist itself up to the airship to gain an extra point bonus.