Infinite Recharge 2020 Kickoff
To start off this year’s First Robotics Competition, a kickoff event was held at St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic High School in Aurora, Ontario. On January 4th, robotics teams in the area gathered to learn about this year’s competition. It was a very important event because it would be the first time the competition details were revealed to the teams.
Each team and its members were signed in and seated together so that they could share and come up with ideas throughout the day. This was very important since new information would constantly be introduced throughout the day.
After an introduction a look at some past competitions, a live stream began. The live stream contained this years game animation. It also covered the materials we would be needing and how we could get them. After the details were given, all of the teams were given some time to brainstorm. Many ideas were shared in this process.
After the lunch break, our mentors came back with our boxes of parts. Because our team is a rookie team this year, we were given a second box as well. The boxes contained essential parts like the robot controller, the power distribution panel, sensors and electronics, materials, aluminum tubes, and much more. Seeing all of our parts for the first time was a very exciting experience that inspired our team members.
To help the teams understand the game a little better, a human player demo was held. Instead of robots, humans played the game. They had to follow the rules and play as if they were the robots themselves. This helped the teams understand what the main tasks were and what to focus on. The teams were able to see a physical representation of the game.
The FRC kick-off event was a great experience, especially for a rookie team like ours. We got to learn a little more about how the competition is run and what points to focus on. It was also a great experience being able to meet and see all the other teams. It sparked some new ideas and gave us an example of what our future team will be like. We hope that the rest of this year’s competition provides us all with new experiences and lessons.