ED Robotics Competition 2023

Game Rules

Quick Overview

Two competing alliances are challenged to score cargo. Each alliance is assigned a cargo color (red or blue Ping-Pong balls, based on alliance affiliation) to process by retrieving their assigned cargo and scoring it into the middle. Human players assist the cargo retrieval and scoring efforts from outside of the field. In the final moments of each match, alliance robots climb up the platforms to score additional points.

Each match begins with a 15-second autonomous period, during which time alliance robots operate only on pre-programmed instructions to score points by:

• Driving from their platform and scoring their assigned balls into the center.
• In the final 2 minutes and 15 seconds of the match, drivers take control of the robots and score points by continuing to retrieve and score their assigned balls and climb up their ramp.

The alliance with the highest score at the end of the match wins

Introduction 

Four teams will be divided into random alliances either blue or red and will play on a 2.1 X 1.17 meter field surrounded by a 15 cm high wall. The objective of the game is to earn the most points by scoring Ping-Pong balls and climb up their ramp. There are 18 red and 18 blue Ping-Pong balls with 8 of each color on the field at the beginning of the match. The match will begin with both team's robot in their colored starting area which corresponds to the team's color and balls. Teams will be allow to preload the robot with one of their teams balls. Teams will have 2 minutes & 30 seconds collect as many points as possible.

Setup/Autonomous

For the start of the match robots will start on the orange platform and may be loaded with one ball.

For the first 15 seconds of the, game robots will drive autonomous (without driver control) during this period balls scored will be worth 3x. After this 15 second period robots will be controlled by the drivers. Alliances who can move both robots off the platform and score at least one ball will earn 1 ranking point.

Scoring  

The team's will share the same scoring zones and will have different point values in accordance to difficulty. The purple scoring zone in the middle is worth 1 point per ball scored, and balls successfully scored in the yellow tower are worth 3 point per ball.

All balls are open to be scored by either team but, once a ball has entered a scoring area it cannot be removed.  

Human Player 

During the match human player may load balls into robots or on to the field in the highlighted areas two for each alliance. Note these two areas are on the opposite side of their teams field.

End Game 

During the last 20 seconds of the match teams may attempted to park their robot on either the orange, green, or pink ramp. Once the time has reached 0:00 teams who are completely on the colored surface unsupported will earn extra points.

• 3 Points for Orange

• 6 Points for Green

• 12 Points for Pink

Alliances who can score 12 points parking on the platforms will earn 1 ranking point.

During the last 20 seconds of the match teams may not hinder the other team's attempted to park on the ramp, if so, the team being hindered will earn 15 points.

Additional Game Rules 

• At the beginning of the match teams may position their robot in anyway as long as no part of the robot is breaking the vertical plane of the colored tile 

• There is no limit to the amount of balls a team\'s robot may possess during the match.  

• Teams may not pin another team for more than 5 seconds, a pin lasting longer will earn the pinned team 2 points. 

• Redeployment 

  • If any point during the match a robot becomes stuck, flipped, or unable to move, teams may collect their robot and redeploy it from their starting colored tile.  

  • Each time a team redeploys their robot they will have one ball removed from the lowest scoring zone. 

  • If there are no ball in any scoring zone during the redeployment no balls will be removed.  

  • If the opposing team is occupying the deployment zone teams may deploy their robot from the opposing starting area. 

  • When a team redeploys, teams may position their robot in anyway as long as no part of the robot is breaking the vertical plane of the colored tile 

  • While a team\'s robot is within its own starting tile, teams may repair or reconfigure their robot.  

  • Balls that fall off the field will be returned to the field in the starting area of the team who lost the ball. 

• Teams may not design their robot or used strategies with the intention to solely damage or hinder their opponent. 

• It is up to the team to ensure their robot is full ready for their match, this includes having batteries fully charged, and having software and mechanical systems ready. 

Competition Structure

The competition will be broken up into qualifications and Playoff Matches.

Qualifications

Robots will be randomly paired with each other and compete against another random pair of robots. Teams will be given at least 3 matches and be seeded based on the ranking points collected. This seed position will determine where and who you will end up playing with in the Playoff Matches.

• 2 pts. for win

• 1 pt. for tying

• 0 pts. for lose

• 1 ranking point for autonomous scoring

• 1 ranking point for scoring 12 points in the end game (climbing platforms)

In one match a the maximum ranking points a team can earn is 4. A team that loose a match can still earn 2 ranking points from the other activities.

Alliance selection

At the end of the Qualification Matches, the top 8 seeded teams become the Alliance Leads. The seeded Alliances are designated, in order, Alliance 1, Alliance 2, etc., down to Alliance 8. Using the Alliance selection process described in this section, each Alliance Lead chooses 2 other teams to join their Alliance.

The Alliance selection process consists of 2 rounds during which each Alliance Captain invites a team seeded below them in the standings to join their Alliance. The invited team must not already have declined an invitation.

Round 1: In descending order (Alliance 1 to Alliance 8), each Alliance Captain invites a single team. The invited team's representative steps forward and either accepts or declines the invitation. If the team accepts, it becomes a member of that Alliance. If an invitation from a top 8 Alliance to another Alliance Lead is accepted, all lower Alliance Leads are promoted 1 spot. The next highest seeded, unselected team moves up to become the Alliance 8 Lead. If the team declines, that team is not eligible to be picked again or to be a backup team and the Alliance Captain extends another invitation to a different team. If an invitation from a top 8 Alliance to another Alliance Lead is declined, the declining team may still invite teams to join their Alliance; however, it cannot accept invitations from other Alliances. The process continues until Alliance 8 makes a successful invitation.

Round 2: The same method is used for each Alliance Captain's second choice except the selection order is reversed, with Alliance 8 picking first and Alliance 1 picking last. This process results in 8 Alliances of 3 teams each.

Playoff Matches

In Playoff Matches, teams do not earn Ranking Points; they earn a Win, Loss or Tie. Within each series of the Playoff Matches Bracket, the first Alliance to win 2 Matches advances. Within each Playoff series you must use all three robots from your Alliance.