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One Year, One Challenge, One Robot
One Year, One Challenge, One Robot
Every year, the Lightning Robotics team builds a new robot to compete in the FIRST Robotics Competition.
Every year, the Lightning Robotics team builds a new robot to compete in the FIRST Robotics Competition.
Beginning in January, the annual challenge is revealed, and teams have six weeks to design, prototype, build, and program a robot to compete in the challenge. For this years competition, Charged Up, check under the current events page.
2022-2023 Season: FIRST Charged Up
2022-2023 Season: FIRST Charged Up
In FIRST Charged Up, robots compete against an opposing team to power their community by placing cones and inflatable squares on community nodes. The higher the node, the more points a team will gain. Robots will also have the chance to dock and engage with their team's charge station, making sure it keeps level and straight so a robot is fully engaged.
The group made a robot with a 54 inch arm that can extend and retract anywhere within that range, being able to reach both the bottom and middle nodes with the bot's retractable pneumatic claw that picks up cones. Also, the team's robot was quite effective at balancing on the charge station, which earned them and their teams many points in the end.
Lightning Robotics' robot performed really well this season, and everyone on the team was quite happy with where we landed, considering this was the first big year back from after the hit the team took during COVID.
FIRST Rapid React is an airport-esc game where robots score points by shooting cargo balls into two hubs in the middle of the field. Scoring a ball in the top hub will gain the team more points. Near the end of the game, robots can climb up to four rungs, the higher the rung the more points the team gets.
Lightning Robotics built a robot that could “suck in” the cargo balls by reversing discs, and then used a chain mechanism to lift up this ball. From there the discs could spin forward at a fast speed and propel the cargo ball into a hub.
Lightning Robotics had a good run this competition, making a successful robot that got through many rounds.
FIRST Infinite Recharge was meant to be a Star Wars-esc game in which robots where to collect foam balls and score them into ports. Sadly, due to the pandemic the competitions had to be canceled early on into the season. Because of this, a modified version of Infinite Recharge was continued the next year in 2021. This new version was an at-home event in which teams could submit media of a robot that they created last year for the original competition or a new robot in order to be judged.
The robot that was made during this time was a robot that fulfilled the requirements for the original Infinite Recharge competition which could get foam balls pushed into it and shoot it out as well.
FIRST Destination: Deep Space is a space-esc game where robots score foam balls into different ports. These foam balls are kept in place by robots placing discs circular openings where the balls could fall out of. More points can be gained if a team completes their rocket ship - which a collection of four ports, two of them being high up - by securing foam balls in each port on the structure. Near the end of the game, robots return to their habitat where they can once again gain more points if they climb a platform in their habitat.
The robot that was created was able to pick up game pieces using a claw-like mechanism. This year also provided a new experience to the group. For the first time Lightning Robotics was able to fully operate from the school allowing for increased participation and timely intervention. An ambitious design and work schedule resulted in a series of challenges requiring creative solutions.
Lightning Robotics made an overall successful robot that competed in the Colorado Regional.
FIRST Power Up was an arcade-esc game in which robots would pick up blocks and score them on scales. Teams gained points when there was more weight placed on their side of the scales than the opponents. Cubes could be given to team members in order to gain “power ups” which supported them during the match. At the end of the game, robots could climb to the edge of a platform near the middle for extra points.
For this year, Lightning Robotics made an advanced robot that was able to “suck” in cubes, lift the cube using an elevator mechanism, and then shoot the cubes out onto the scales.
Lightning Robotics managed to rank 20th overall with the 8th best OPR (Offensive Power Rating). The team was able to advance into the quarterfinals where they were eliminated by the top alliance in the competition. . Despite the tough competition, Lightning Robotics made a strong
FIRST Stronghold was a steampunk-esc game in which a robot could earn points by shooting balls into high up goals in order to “power” the team’s air ship. Robots could also carry and deliver gears to their air ship in order to get the ship’s blades working for extra points. At the very end of the game, robots could climb a rope for even more points.
For the competition, the team built a robot which could retrieve gears and then deliver them using a hinging mechanism. The robot was also able to climb a rope a catching it and twirling it around a bar to advance in the air.
Lightning Robotics had a fantastic robot and competition this year, having them win the Innovation in Control Award which was sponsored by Rockwell Automation.
FIRST Stronghold was a medieval-esc game in which a robot had to shoot balls into goals on the opposing team’s side. A team could surround and “capture” the opposing team’s castle and even climb it in order to gain more points. Robots could also be defensive and try to prevent balls from being shot into their own goals.
The Lightning Robotics built a small robot that would be able to pass under an obstacle which gave them extra points. This robot was able to suck up balls and shoot them as well as having the ability to raise the top component of the robot as a barrier.
Lightning Robotics’ robot did quite well and was able to advance the group to the semi-finals.
The year that Lightning Robotics was first created, the team competed in the FIRST Recycle Rush competition. This was a game where, in order to score points, a robot had to stack large storage totes and garbage bins on top of each other. To gain more points these stacks could be put on platforms and pool-noodles could be inserted into the garbage bins as well.
The robot that the group created had arms that could slide around a storage container and use an elevator mechanism in order to lift the container up.
Lightning Robotics won the Rookie Inspiration Award.
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