FIRST Steamworks
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| Year | 2017 |
|---|---|
| Number of teams | ~3,400 |
| Championship location |
Houston George R. Brown Convention Center Minute Maid Park St. Louis Dome at America's Center America's Center FIRST Festival of Champions Manchester, New Hampshire |
| Links | |
| Website | Official website |
FIRST Steamworks, stylized as FIRST STEAMworks, is the FIRST Robotics Competition game for the 2017 season. As in past games, two alliances of three individual teams and their robots compete on a field to score "match" point to win the game and ranking points to advance to playoff rounds. The game has a steampunk theme and teams are required to shoot wiffleballs which represent fuel into a simulated boiler which transfers the generated steam into an airship in the middle of the field. Each alliance has one airship, which they pressurize with steam from the boiler and load with plastic gears from the field. At the end of the match, robots can climb and hang on team-supplied ropes (or standard ropes supplied by FIRST) attached to the airship for additional points.
The Kickoff event for FIRST Steamworks occurred on Saturday January 7, 2017. The kickoff video featured the theme song for the season, "Steam Powered" by Professor Elemental, and an explanation of the game. The video was livestreamed at 10:30 AM ET, with many teams attending "local Kickoff Events" to kickstart their build season.
FIRST Steamworks is played on a field 27ft (823cm) by 54ft 4in (1656cm), covered in green carpet and bounded by transparent polycarbonate guardrails on the longer sides and the Alliance Walls on the shorter sides. It is divided into the Neutral Zone, alliance specific Launchpads, Keys and Retrieval Zones.
The Neutral Zone is an area in the middle of the field that contains no major scoring elements, and is neutral to both alliances. It is bounded by the Launchpad Lines, white in colour, and the Launchpad Lines are not part of the Neutral Zone.
Each side of the arena is called the Launchpad. The Launchpad is alliance specific, bounded by the Launchpad Lines and the Alliance Wall. Each Launchpad belongs to the alliance that has their Alliance Wall bounding it. Robots start the match contacting the Alliance Wall. The Launchpad contains the Key, Retrieval Zone and the Airship.
The Key is the area in front of the Boiler. It is bounded by alliance-coloured tape and the Boiler and is contained inside the alliance's own Launchpad. Opposing robots may not stay in the Key for more than 5 seconds, as this would obstruct the alliance from scoring in the Boiler.
The Retrieval Zone is the area in front of the Loading Station. It is inside the opposite alliance's Launchpad, meaning that the robot must travel to the other side of the field to get to the Loading Station. Robots in the Retrieval Zone normally receive scoring elements through the Loading Stations. Robots may not contact another robot in the opposing Retrieval Zone, regardless of who initiates the contact.
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