New Robot Challenges from a Galaxy Far Far Away

By Meghan Valade

Robots will have to climb, shoot and spin a colored wheel to advance in this year’s FIRST robotics game Infinite Recharge — a challenge the Foley Freeze team members said they are excited to start brainstorming.

The Star Wars themed game, part of a partnership between First and Disney unit Lucasfilms, has new aspects never seen at FIRST robotics’ competitions. 

This year FIRST introduced a new way of climbing that involves carefully balancing two to three robots on a generator switch, a triangle hanging about five feet off the ground. The competition also has a control panel, a spinning wheel with four colors, that robots need to be able to rotate. 

Teams will need to perfect their aim when trying to score the power cells – which are small balls – into slots that are also called power ports. The smallest opening scores the most points.

 These new aspects will push Team 910  to work and think harder, said Nick Lucido, lead of the prototype subteam. 

“The most challenging part of Infinite Recharge will be to find the best way to score the power cell at the inner scoring unit/target,” he said. 

The Foley Freeze is charged up to create a new robot for Infinite Recharge.