January 8, 2018 e-News
2018 Kickoff Video

Check out this year's game animation.


2018 Game: FIRST ® Power Up ®


The team met on January 6 to learn about this year's game: FIRST Power Up.  

FIRST ® POWER UP, the 2018 FIRST ® Robotics Competition game, includes two alliances of video game characters and their human operators who are trapped in an arcade game. Both alliances are working to defeat the boss in order to escape! Each three team alliance prepares to defeat the boss in three ways:
  • Control the Switches and the Scale.
    Robots collect Power Cubes and place them on Plates to control Switches or the Scale. When the Scale or their Switch is tipped in their favor, it is considered owned by that Alliance. Alliances work to have Ownership for as much time as possible.
  • Earn Power Ups.
    Robots deliver Power Cubes to their humans who then place them into the Vault earning the Alliance Power Ups. Alliances use Power Ups to gain a temporary advantage during the Match. There are three Power Ups available to teams: Force, Boost, and Levitate.
    • Force gives the alliance ownership of the Switch, Scale, or both for a limited period of time
    • Boost doubles the rate points are earned for a limited period of time.
    • Levitate gives a robot a free climb
  • Climb the Scale.
    Robots Climb the Scale in order to be ready to Face The Boss.
(above information is quoted from the FIRST Website)  

kickoff slideshow
During Kick-off, the team broke into three groups. Each group focused on different portions of the 133 page game manual. We then all met together to share information and discuss game strategy. Our goal was to get a good basic understanding of the game challenge before discussing robot design ideas on Sunday.

During the build season, the team will meet four nights each week and on Saturdays.



Some stats about this year's competition: 3652 teams will compete in 160 events in 27 countries.
2018 Sponsors

Rockford Robotics appreciates the support of our generous sponsors and encourages others to join them.








Learn about sponsorship opportunities on our website sponsor page.
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