|
|
|
Bonners Ferry High School Robotics Team kicks
off 10th season |
|
January 20, 2016 |
by Maggie McCoy
This year is a very exciting year for Bonners
Ferry High School Robotics Team 2130 Alpha+.
We are proud to be celebrating our tenth
anniversary as a team. This landmark year is
actually a little hard to believe, especially
for all of the mentors who have been with us
from the beginning. We are forever in their debt
for their efforts in getting this team started.
All of this would not have been possible without
them.
Alpha+ team members did something different at
the end of last season. We had so many students
dedicated to attending meetings, that we decided
to meet all summer long. First and foremost, we
turned to community service work. We teamed up
to clean up over three miles of roadside trash
in an area of our community that badly needed
it! Only then did we focus on our own little
clubhouse.
Over the summer, our programmers honed their
coding skills, and the build and design teams
started working on new projects. Many of our
team members also undertook a team sign
redesign! Our clubhouse desperately needed new
signage to denote its humble abode at the back
of the middle school. We also got to spend some
time getting to know our new lead mentor, David
Nix, who joined us last year.
 Alpha+
is revved up for this year’s season. Every year,
FIRST releases hints about the game in advance.
(One year, it was a picture of Rick Astley!)
This year, FIRST decided to do something they
had never done before. They released the name of
the game AND a short animated clip. They did not
reveal any details about the game, but the name
of the game FIRST Stronghold had all the
teams speculating on a medieval theme to the
competition!
Our season officially kicked off Saturday,
January 9 when the official game was released
to teams all across the world, along with the
rule book.
In FIRST Stronghold, two Alliances of three
robots each are on a Quest to breach their
opponents’ fortifications, weaken their tower
with boulders, and capture the opposing tower.
Robots score points by breaching opponents’
defenses and scoring boulders through goals in
the opposing tower. During the final 20 seconds
of the Quest, robots may surround and scale the
opposing tower to capture it. (Game description
according to FIRST, as reported by Business
Wire.) You can view an animation of the game
here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqOKzoHJDjA
Even though we learned an almost intimidating
amount about the game at Kickoff, we still have
a lot to do. In just six short weeks we must
brainstorm, strategize, prototype, fabricate,
assemble, and program this year’s robot! We hope
our very supportive community will keep up with
our progress through future articles and our
Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/FirstTeam2130/. |
|
|
|
Questions or comments about this
article?
Click here to e-mail! |
|
|
|
|
