1/4/2014 The 2014 Game Manual: Aerial Assist!

The 2014 Game Manual: Aerial Assist is the entire set of rules for this year's game, from technical parts of the game to technical parts of the robots to technical parts of the awards.  While the rules of this game are fairly lengthy, it can be briefly summarized, as it is in this game animation, and will be explained in this blog post.

This year's game is played on a 54'x25' field, split evenly into a red zone, white zone, and blue zone, and is played with 2' diameter balls, colored red or blue for each alliance.  Other than autonomous mode, alliances only have one ball at a time to try to score during the match.  There are two high goals spanning 11' across the wall, which are 37" tall and 82" above the ground with 1' of separation between.  The low goals in the corners are 32" wooden cubes with open faces.  Scoring in the high goal is worth 10 points, while scoring in the low goal is worth 1.  Bisecting the length of the field is a "truss", with its bottom at 5'2" and its top at 6'2".  If a ball is thrown over the truss, 10 points are scored by the throwing alliance.  If a robot on the same team catches the ball, the alliance scores an extra bonus 10 points.

The biggest part of this game though is the assist factor.  As suggested, this game gives bonus points for passing to your own team.  For a one robot cycle, where only one robot has the ball and just runs over and shoots it, there are no bonus points.  For a two robot cycle, where two robots "possess" the ball before scoring, 10 bonus points are added when the ball is scored.  For a three robot cycle though, where all three robots "possess" the ball before scoring, 30 bonus points are added when the ball is scored.  This poses the huge strategy question of what strategy is most efficient in terms of points per time.

In addition to the drivers, coach, and robot, there are human players, one from each team on the alliance.  These human players are the ones that feed the ball back into the field, can serve as something to pass to to redirect the ball, and can prevent the ball from exiting the field, but cannot interact with anything within the field perimeter, and cannot score.

In terms of rules for robots, robots can only be 5' tall unless they are contacting their goalie zone, in which case they can have an unlimited height, but the area above 5' tall must fit within an infinite 6" diameter cylinder.  The weight is the same as recent previous years, at 120 pounds, and the frame perimeter must be less than 112".  While there is this restricting frame perimeter, the robot can extend to 20" outside its frame perimeter as soon as the match starts.

For normal rules of the game, there are not too many, but the few have major consequences.  Teams may absolutely not intentionally touch or possess the opposing alliance's ball, otherwise they will be called for a 50 point foul.  Also, cycles begin as soon as the last ball for an alliance in autonomous is scored, which is when assists and truss points can begin to be scored.  And, of course, as the goal is not destruction but cooperation and fun, no structures for intentionally harming other robots.

That is a basic summary of the restrictions and building blocks for the conceptual design process for this year's game, and what I will be working around for my project.