It Takes All Kinds of Robots to Win FIRST Competitions

by Louis Craig

When the Foley Freeze played their way to the second place finish at the Troy FIRST Competition last weekend, their alliance relied on a mixture of robots that could score high and low and play defense.

Thousands of FRC teams around the world create unique robots for each FRC game challenge, but every year most robots end up falling into several main categories. In the 2019 FRC game, Destination: Deep Space, 3 of the main categories are: high ranking robots, low level specialists, game piece specialists.

The variety of robots and skills is determined both by the experience of the FIRST team as well as the strategy they want to employ to win. Robots try to place cargo and hatches on both the low cargo ship and high rockets. They also have three levels they can climb a the end of the match. Less experienced teams may focus on just one skill, because it’s less complicated. A veteran team may gamble they can win with a robot that is best at one scoring method.

High Ranking Robots

High ranking robots are designed to perform their best in the qualification rounds. They can complete a rocket by themself, or do most of it by themself, and can climb to the highest level of the platform at the end of the match. These teams will often have an extra feature to distinguish themself from other high ranking robots, such as a unique drivetrain (such as a swerve drive), a ground pick up for hatch panels (something that many teams did not build this year but can be quite important in some matches), or another unique feature (such as a turreted elevator).

In-Focus: Team 910 – The Foley Freeze

A good example of a robot designed to rank high is our robot, Europa. Europa is usually one of the fastest robots of the field, with its unique swerve drive being powered by some of the fastest motors available in FRC. It can intake quickly and the elevator raises and lowers quickly, too. It has a consistent, fast Level 3 HAB climb using a 4-bar mechanism. At the Center Line District, we finished ranked 13th overall, were invited to the 3rd alliance as the first pick, and were eliminated in the quarterfinals; at the Troy District, we finished ranked 5th overall, were invited to the 1st alliance as the first pick, and were eliminated in the finals.

Other Examples from our District Events: 1025, 1718, 2075, 2337, and 3539.

Low Level Specialists:

Low level specialists are robots that can only score on the cargo ship and the first level of the rocket. They sometimes will have a Level 2 or Level 3 HAB Platform climb so they can rank higher, but due to their inability to complete the rocket, they probably won’t rank high at any of the State Championships or the World Championship. With the low levels being worth as many points as the high levels, this strategy works well in eliminations and will win numerous events for teams, even if they didn’t rank high in qualifications.

In-Focus: Team 226 – Hammerheads

Team 226, Hammerheads from Troy, is a good example of a low level only robot. Their robot, Waverider, can only score on the first level of the rocket and the cargo ship, but makes up for this lack of height in how fast they can score. Team 226 filled most of the cargo ship in almost every match at the first district, and were even able to fill it completely in a few matches. They also have a Level 3 HAB Climb, which potentially has the ability to lift a second robot to Level 3 with them, although they have not shown this ability in match play yet. At the Detroit District, Team 226 ranked 3rd overall, captained the 2nd alliance, and were eliminated in the semifinals; at the Troy District, they ranked 10th overall, captained the 5th alliance, and were eliminated in the quarterfinals.

Other Examples from our District Events: 51, 2960, and 6117.

Game Piece Specialists:

Game piece specialists are robots that specialize in a specific game piece, either through being designed to only manipulate a single game piece or by being much better at one game piece than the other. These robots are often times a good support robot for an alliance but will not score as much on their own. They may be able to score on all levels of the rocket and the cargo ship, but not always.

In-Focus: Team 7211 – Hollywood

Team 7211 is in their second year as a team and, due to their young age, chose not to do too much. Therefore, they can only place hatch panels, but they make this tradeoff by placing them everywhere on the rocket and on the cargo ship. They also have a Level 2 HAB Climb. At the Belleville District, Team 7211 ranked 11th overall, was the 7th alliance captain, and was eliminated in the quarterfinals; at the Center Line District, Team 7211 ranked 18th overall, was invited to the 4th alliance as the 1st pick, and was eliminated in the Semifinals.

Other Examples from our District Events: 1, 1701, and 7762.

The important lesson is that when the quarterfinals are over, the winning team will need a mixture of robots to win and even the simplest design is likely to find itself in an alliance.