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FIRST Tech Challenge

The FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) is an introductory robotics program designed for students to participate in a sport model and learn the basics of engineering and programming while also developing problem-solving, organizational, and team-building skills. Teams of up to 10 students design, build and program their robot from nothing to a finished product in about 3 months to compete against other teams. The robot kits consist Tetrix and Lego Mindstorm kits and are reusable every year. The robots themselves can be programmed in RobotC, a C derivative, or LabView, a graphical pseudo-programming environment. Teams along with coaches and mentors develop a strategy and build robots on real-life engineering principles. There are also various awards given for the competition, as well as non-engineering aspects such as community outreach, design, and other accomplishments.

Team S*M*A*S*H sponsors four FTC teams at Spruce Creek High School: Team 128, Team 132, Team 531 and Team 532. In addition, one of the teams, Team 132, is going to State Championship in Tampa!
Team S*M*A*S*H also host our own FTC Regional at Spruce Creek High School, Robotfest! We annually host Robotfest at Spruce Creek with turnouts of 15+ teams a year!

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This year we competing in the FTC competition called Hot Shot!

Hot Shot! matches are played on a field with a center pole with two nets, and one chute on each corner of the field. In addition, there are two off field goals with a net behind them. Two alliances, a red and a blue one are composed of two teams and compete in each match. The object of the game is to attain a higher score than the opposing alliance by shooting 9-inch whiffle balls into the goals in the center of the field (one being a high net, another being a ground goal) or in the off-field Goals during the final 30 seconds of the match. The nets of the center goal freely spins 360-degrees on a pivot.

There are a total of 80 balls available to both teams as scoring objects in the game. Eight balls are given to each alliance to pre-load onto the robots in any way they want and 15 will be placed in the chutes located on each corner of the field for a total of 60 balls. One special bonus ball (a yellow whiffle ball) will be given to each team but may only be introduced onto the field in the last 30 seconds of the match.

Each match has two periods, an autonomous (computer/logic controlled) period, and a teleoperated (human controlled) period.

In 30 second autonomous period, balls can only be scored in the center of the field and will be counted and scored at the end of the period. There are also bonus points awarded to alliances that release balls from their color-corresponding chutes during the autonomous period. Robots may only make contact with the color-taped portion of the chute trigger to release the balls onto the field.

After 30 seconds, the teleoperated period starts and human players move up to the controls. The human players control their robots and attempt to score points in the middle goal and release balls using the chute trigger (but they do not get points for it). In the final 30 seconds of the round, you can score in the off-field goals.

At the end of the game, the score is calculated. The scoring is 1 point for balls in the low goal, 5 points for balls in the high net goal, and 10 points for balls in the off-field goals. The final scoring is your autonomous score with your teleoperated score. The team with the highest score wins.

FTC Hot Shot!