Game Overview

FIRST POWER UP is the FIRST Robotics Competition game for the 2018 season. It involves two alliances of three teams each, the teams are required to place power cubes on large balancing scales to tip the scale and gain ownership. Alliances can also trade power cubes for power ups, giving them a temporary advantage in a match. At the end of the match, robots can climb the tower attached to the center balancing scale using a rung attached to the tower, giving them additional points.

What we built

Our 2017 robot "Strafe" was designed to ferry gears with the best of them, as from the ground up (quite literally!) we focused on speed! We had a top speed of around 18.3 ft/sec, or 12.5 MPH, so we flew across the field on our custom swerve drive. Powered by 8 775 Pros and 4 9015 motors to steer, this drive train enabled us to move quickly in any and all directions. We had a gear ground pickup as well as a loading station gear mechanism. We also had a climbing mechanism which used Velcro to grab a rope and pull itself up in under 4 seconds.

Competition season

St. Louis Regional - March 8-11 - Not Picked

Rocket City Regional - March 22-25 - Eliminated in quarterfinals

Gateway Robotics Competition - October 7

Cow Town Throwdown - TBD

Featured: cyborg SWERVE

Our first year making a swerve drive, we machined and built it all in house. Like shopping cart wheels, all our wheels can rotate individually in addition to driving at high speeds, and they are even capable of turning while driving.