Hexagon Havoc: The playing field was a carpeted, hexagon-shaped area with a central hexagonal goal. Around the perimeter of the field were three stations for human players, who worked with the robots on the field to score points. There were twelve 8" diameter balls and two 24" diameter balls for each of the three teams, color coded to identify team ownership. At the start of each match, all of the small balls and three of the large balls are on the playing field, while the other three large balls were situated on the triangular corners of the goal.
In two minute matches, the three robots, with their human partners, scored points by placing the balls in the central goal. The balls were carried, pushed or thrown into the goal by the robots. The human players were not allowed on the playing field as they were seat-belted down at their stations, but they could score points by throwing balls into the central goal.
Points were awarded for balls located in the central goal at the conclusion of each two minute match. Each small ball in or above the hexagonal portion of the central goal was worth three (3) points. Each large ball located in or above the hexagonal portion of the central goal was worth ten (10) points. Each large ball on or over the triangular corners of the goal was worth five (5) points.
The winner of each match was the team with the highest score. In the case of a tie, highest large ball in the goal won. If no large balls were in the goal ties were broken by the large ball closest to the center of the goal. |
In 1996 the organization US FIRST, although it hadn't been around long, was growing quickly. It was only the competition's fourth year in activation and it had already turned into a nationwide festivity. With it's growing popularity the competition attracted the team Wildstang. Wildstang designed a robot that could control both small balls and large balls. With an accumulator, it would gather small balls and store them in a mesh bag. A scissor lift would then raise the bag of small balls to the height of the goal. The tray holding the bag would then pivot forward (from the "elbow") and dump the bag of small balls into the goal. After the small balls were dumped into the goal, the tray would continue to rotate, while a stationary piece helped it to act as an arm to grab the large balls from either the goal or the floor. |
Hexagon Havoc: The playing field was a carpeted, hexagon-shaped area with a central hexagonal goal. Around the perimeter of the field were three stations for human players, who worked with the robots on the field to score points. There were twelve 8" diameter balls and two 24" diameter balls for each of the three teams, color coded to identify team ownership. At the start of each match, all of the small balls and three of the large balls are on the playing field, while the other three large balls were situated on the triangular corners of the goal.
In 1996 the organization US FIRST, although it hadn't been around long, was growing quickly. It was only the competition's fourth year in activation and it had already turned into a nationwide festivity. With it's growing popularity the competition attracted the team Wildstang. Wildstang designed a robot that could control both small balls and large balls. With an accumulator, it would gather small balls and store them in a mesh bag. A scissor lift would then raise the bag of small balls to the height of the goal. The tray holding the bag would then pivot forward (from the "elbow") and dump the bag of small balls into the goal. After the small balls were dumped into the goal, the tray would continue to rotate, while a stationary piece helped it to act as an arm to grab the large balls from either the goal or the floor. 
