Category: Flapjack Challenge

Pancake Breakfast Game Release!

10/21/2017

Border Patrol
Overview:
Border Patrol is a 3 on 3 match with a field divided into Red and Blue “Countries”. But not to worry! Both alliances will be on each Country! Two Feeder Robots will remain on their corresponding side (Red or Blue) while the remaining Smuggler Robot will be placed in the opposing Country. More information will be given on objectives/scoring.

Game Field: (all dimensions have a ±½ in. tolerance)

Field Dimensions: 16 feet wide (end walls) x 12 feet long (side walls) x 1ft 10in tall
- The floor of the field will be carpeted with the standard FIRST carpeting
- There will be a Fence spanning the width of the field.
- The Fence will consist of two standard 2x6’s stacked on top of each other, held together by wood screws, making the final dimensions approx. 2 in. thick x 16 ft. wide x 11 in. tall.
- Along this Fence, there will be four holes (or Tunnels), with their centers 3½ feet apart, and the center of the outermost Tunnels will be approximately 3ft. 7/16ths in. away from the side wall of the field.
- The Tunnels are 5¾ in. wide by 3 in. tall.
Two hanging baskets (or Vaults) will be suspended with the openings 2½ feet above the ground and secured by a taut rope. The Vaults will be placed centered along the 16 ft. wall and the center of the Vaults will be spaced 1½ ft. off of the Fence, one on each side.
- The opening of the Vaults are 9 3/16 in x 5 ⅝ in. x 6.334 in. tall.
- The sides taper down to a bottom that is 7 in. x 3 1/2 in.
- These Vaults were featured in FIRST Res-Q.
There will be a 2 ft. deep Smuggling Zone spanning the width of the field on each side of the Fence, marked by a tape line (Smuggling Line).
There will be a 4ftx4ft. wide Human Player Station centered on each end marked by tape.
The Drivers may stand anywhere on their side.

Game Pieces:

The game pieces will consist of large foam balls (Platinum) plastic cubes (Gold) and plastic wiffle balls (Silver).
- The Gold is 2x2x2 inches
- The Silver is approx. 2 3/4 in. in diameter.
- The Platinum is a 10” diameter foam ball.
- The Silver, and Gold were featured in the 2015 - 2016 FTC challenge, FIRST Res-Q, and the Platinum was featured in the 2016 FRC Game, FIRST Stronghold.

Robot Specifications:

Robots at the start of the match, while not powered, may not exceed16 in. x 16 in. x 14 in. tall.
Robots may extend infinitely in all directions during the match.
Robots may not exceed a weight of 25 lb. excluding battery.
Robots may not use any CIMs, Mini CIMs, or 775-PRO motors.
Robots may only use a 12V or Vex Battery and their equivalents.
Robots may not be dangerous in ANY way shape or form as deemed by the referees.
Any and all Robot extensions may not move outside of the field.

Objective/Scoring:

The objective of this year’s 2017 FlapJack Challenge (Border Patrol) is to move Silver and Gold across the Fence
- The match will start with 20 Silver and 4 Gold on each side, locations of the Silver and Gold will be random within your Country, and 1 Platinum behind the end wall to be used by the Human Player
- Silver may be scored by passing it through the Tunnels or passing them over the Fence.
- At the end of the match, each piece of Silver on the other side of the Fence is worth 5 points for your alliance.
- Feeder Robots may give Gold to the Smuggler Robot by passing them over the wall in order to allow the Smuggler Bot to place the Gold in the Vault.
  - If a piece of gold is pushed through a Tunnel by a feeder bot, the Smuggler bot on the same alliance may attempt to pass the Gold back through ANY Tunnel in order to allow their respective Feeder bots to pass the gold over the Fence.
  - Each Gold in the Vault will be worth 50 points and every 2 Gold in the Vault is worth 1 additional Ranking Point, up to 2 Ranking Points
During the last 30 seconds of the match, a single Platinum will be introduced to each Country along the 16 ft wall in front of the Human Player Station, by the Human Player.
- This Platinum can be launched by a robot over the Fence to the other Country for 150 points and 1 additional Ranking point.
- While launching the Platinum, Feeder Robots may not cross the Smuggler Line.
- If the Platinum enters the Smuggler Zone in the Country in which it was introduced, it is considered dead and can no longer be scored.

Match Outcome and Ranking:

Each Match will be 2 minutes and 30 seconds long.
At the end of the Match, the Alliance with the most points will be declared the winner.
In the event of a tie, the tie will be broken by the following rules:
- The team with the fewest penalties will be declared the winner.
- If still tied, the team with the most Gold in their Vault will be declared the winner.
- In the event that the match is still tied, the winner will be determined by the team that successfully scored their Platinum first.
A win will be worth 1 Ranking Point, and a loss will be worth 0 Ranking Points.
There will be a possible 4 total Ranking Points per Match.
Overall Ranking will be determined by each team’s Ranking Score
- The Ranking Score will be the average number of Ranking Points earned per match
If there is a tie in Ranking Score, the team with a higher average score per match will be ranked higher.

Game Rules and Penalties:

No part of the Smuggler Robots may exit the Smuggling Zone. (5 pts.)
- Exiting is considered as breaking the plane of the Smuggling Line
A Smuggler bot may NOT push an enemy gold through a Tunnel. (25 pts.)
Feeder Robots may not push the Smuggler Robot out of the Smuggling Zone. (30 pts.)
Robots may not pin other Robots for more than 5 seconds. (5 pts.)
Robots may not intentionally harm other robots (1st offense: Verbal warning for the offending robot. Automatic loss for Alliance, scores will still count for Average PPG(points per game), and Alliance Partners will still receive other Ranking Points earned; 2nd offense: Automatic disqualification. The referees hold the power to skip the verbal warning and move straight to disqualification if deemed fit.)
Robots may not damage game pieces or field elements (15 pts, if repeated, disqualification at referee discretion)
Robots may not influence any game pieces to leave the field. (5 pts per item if repeated, 1st offense: Verbal Warning)
- Exception: a gold piece that is trying to be scored that falls out of the field will NOT be assessed this penalty. This gold piece will not be reintroduced and will count as voided (0).
Only Smuggler Robots may intentionally contact the rope and Vault (5 pts., if it impedes the flow of the game, a larger penalty may be assessed depending on severity)
Robots may not be in contact with the platinum at the same time as the Human Player (50 pts.)
Robots may not pin another robot for more than 4 seconds. A pin is defined as one robot pushing another robot against a wall, the fence, or another robot.

Pancake Breakfast Results

12/9/2016

Winnovation FIRST Robotics Team 1625 hosted the annual Pancake Breakfast and Flapjack Challenge. On Saturday Dec. 3, robotics teams from Hononegah, Oswego, Batavia, and DeKalb met at Winnebago High School to compete in the Flapjack Challenge, a minibot competition. Thanks to the wonderful support from those who attended and to the local businesses that donated, Winnovation raised lots of money for their upcoming season.
Dekalb, Batavia, and Oswego each built one bot for competition, Hononegah built three, and Winnebago built two. Each Bot competed in nine Qualification Matches, after lunch the top teams selected there alliance member. In the Elimination Matches teams needed to win two out of three matches to advance. In the Finals Matches, two Hononegah teams faced the third Hononegah team and a Winnebago team. After three matches and a rubber match, the Hononegah teams were declared Champs.

Sprocket League Update!

11/28/2016

Rule Amendment

There will be a support added to the hanging bar centered in the field
The bar will be 1.125" Outer Diameter NOT 1"

Winnovation prepares minibots and new recruits for the Flapjack Challenge

11/18/2016

Winnovation FIRST Robotics Team 1625 kicks off the 2016 season with the annual Pancake Breakfast and Flapjack Challenge. The breakfast is on Dec. 3, 2016 at the Winnebago High School cafeteria. The pancake breakfast is from eight o’clock a.m. to four o’clock p.m., and the flapjack challenge is from is from ten o’clock a.m. to four o’clock p.m. The event includes pancakes, the flapjack challenge, which is the mini-bot competition, a bake sale, and a basket raffle; click here for a preview of the baskets that will be available. The basket raffle winners are drawn at noon and do not need be present to win. Tickets are three dollars for children 5 to 12 years of age and five dollars for adults.

The team prepares two minibots to compete with teams from Hononegah, DeKalb, Batavia, Oswego, and Aurora in a game developed by Winnovation's senior members. This year’s challenge, “Sprocket League” requires robots to manipulate soccer balls into a goal.Veteran members lead teams to build minibots, which provides a venue to train new members how to machine, weld, and program a robot.

Sprocket League

11/17/2016

The Objectives

Place Soccer balls (28” circumference) into team specific scoring box
Hang on 1” O/D rod

Scoring

Soccer Balls: Earn points by scoring the regulation soccer balls* into the designated scoring Boxes at the end of the field opposite your driver's station:
Each ball pushed through the scoring hole and completely in the scoring box is worth 10 points
Balls must be scored by going through the hole, and will not be scored if dropped/shot in over the top of the scoring box.
Hole will be ⅜” off the ground
Alliances may score only on the opposing end of the field
Balls will be inbounded by a 2nd member to the of the drive team (the Human Player). The human player will stand in a taped-off 3ft.X3ft. zone on the other side of the field wall from the scoring box.
The human player will return a scored game piece onto the field by removing it from the scoring box and throwing it onto the end of the field in front of their driver’s station - i.e., on the opposite end of the field from the Human Player.
Balls are NOT designated to a certain alliance. As there are 3 balls on the field at a time there will be robot to robot contact as fighting for game pieces occurs.
If a ball leaves the playing field, it may be thrown back onto the field in a random fashion by any spectator.
Hanging: Hanging may be done in the last 20 seconds of the match. The rod is a 1 inch OD metal rod directly above the bump, spanning the width of the field, the center of the bar 20 inches off the ground. The robot must be supported by the bar and only the bar with nothing touching the carpet or the bump,this must be obvious to be scored, for three seconds after the match ends, for a successful hang. A successful hang is worth 50 points. (Will be scored at the end of the game)
Game/Field
- Sprocket League is played on an approximately 141” x 187” carpeted field (FTC Field).
  - Walls are approximately 1 foot tall
  - Playing surface is indoor/outdoor carpet, similar to an FRC field.

In the middle of the field there will be one standard 2X4 “bump” that will span the entire width of the field.
- Made with 2X4; It will lie with a 4 inch face on the carpet
One Driver for each team will line-up in driver stations, which are at either ends of the field. The drivers’ station does not include the Human Player station; drivers should stay out of the Human Player station; they may walk on either side of or behind the Human Player station.
Robots must start contacting the driver station wall and their respective side wall
The scoring zone for each team is opposite the team’s driver station
- The scoring box is 2X2X2 feet, centered left to right, and against the wall opposite the driver station. There is a 1X1 foot scoring hole, contiguous with the playing field, in the wall facing the center of the field. The scoring box is made of plywood.
There will be a total of 3 balls put onto the bump at the center of the field before the robots are placed in the starting zone. The balls will be randomly scattered on the bump. All balls are random color
A single match is 2 minutes and 30 seconds long.
Matches are 2 vs. 2.
Referee calls are final.

The Robots

Robots may not exceed 18 inches x 18 inches x 12 inches tall at the start of the match.
Robots may not exceed a weight of 25 pounds ( this does not include battery).
Robots are not allowed to contain any CIMs, Mini CIM, or 775-PRO motors.
Robots must use a 12V or Vex Battery
Robots may not pose a threat to general safety (generally kids are near field, we want to keep them safe.)
Robots may have extensions that move out an unlimited distance; any extensions must stay within the playing field at all times.
The game piece may not enter more than 3 inches inside the robot mechanisms.

Penalties

Robots may not pin any other robot for more than 5 seconds (10 point penalty).
Robots may not intentionally harm other bots (15 point penalty). After repeated fouls the referees may disqualify the offending robot.
Robots may not damage any part of the field (15 point penalty only if intentionally done)
Team members may not contact field components or robots during the match (75 point penalty).
No extensions of robots may pass outside of the field (15 point penalty). After repeated fouls the referees may disqualify the offending robot.
Robots may extend out of their start configuration but only after match starts
Robots may not intentionally harm game pieces (50 point penalty) After repeated fouls the referees may disqualify the offending robot.
Robots may not linger in front of the opponents’ goal. A robot that blocks their opponents’ goal and prevents them from scoring will receive a 10 point penalty.

* The soccer ball used in professional leagues and in the FIFA World Cup is called “size 5”. The following are the specifications of an official size 5 soccer ball:

Circumference: 27 to 28 inches (69 to 71 cm)

Weight: 14 to 16 oz (400 to 450 grams)

Official pressure: between 8.5 to 15.6 PSI

Diameter: 8.6 to 9 inches (22 to 23 cm)

Radius: 4.3 to 4.5 inches (11 to 11.5 cm)

Questions about the game? Email [email protected] Questions and responses will be posted to the team website at http://team1625.blogspot.com/p/flapjack-challenge.htmland highlighted on the team’s Twitter and Facebook pages.

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Sprocket League FAQ

11/14/2016

11/2/16
Q: Would the robot mechanism just be the 18" x 18" body measured at the beginning of the game? Or would it also include extensions, and if so all extensions or just certain ones?
A: Any thing that is designed to manipulate the game piece I.E. a roller on top of the ball would be legal. A net put around the ball is illegal, so is a plow that the ball would go 3" in.

11/3/16
Q: We are requesting a clarification for the following rule: “The game piece may not enter more than 3 inches inside the robot mechanisms.” Originally the rule read “robot perimeter” (which we thought we understood) but the new rule leaves some room for interpretation.
A: The objective of that rule is to prevent one robot from completely controlling the ball IE a net around the ball. Attached is a VERY rough image that i hope will clear any confusion

11/15/16
Q: Can a Human Player use the ball as a defensive element?
A: No, the ball may not be used to interfere with opponents IE rolling the ball to hit an opposing robot or using the ball to knock another ball from opposing robots. Any intentional use of the ball for this reason will be counted as a “intentional harm to robot” or “intentional harm to game piece” foul

Pancake Breakfast Game Release!

Pancake Breakfast Results

Sprocket League Update!

Rule Amendment

Winnovation prepares minibots and new recruits for the Flapjack Challenge

Sprocket League

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Sprocket League FAQ

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