Game Breakdown

Game Introduction

CHARGED UP, presented by Haas, is an exciting and fast-paced competition that invites two competing alliances to bring energy to their community by retrieving cones and cubes and scoring them in a grid. The game features both autonomous and driver-controlled periods, during which teams can score points by retrieving and scoring game pieces, as well as docking on or engaging with their charge station. Teams will need to strategize and work together in order to emerge as the top alliance in this exciting game.

FIRST Robotics Challenge Game and Resources LINK

Scoring Summary

For a full detailed scoring summary, see section 6.4.3 Point Values in the official 2023 Game Manual.

Field Layout

If you are unfamiliar with the game field structure, the following view can give insight into the different elements and their locations.

Game Breakdown

The first step to any good FRC Game strategy is a full, in-depth understanding of the game. Strong knowledge of scoring achievements, point values, and game rules help teams develop a game strategy that maximizes their scoring ability. Once the knowledge is built, the game can be broken down into data points for analysis.

A commonly used metric in the competitive robotics world is points per second. Basing your game strategy based on the number of points you can gain per second (or even per game period), will help your team make the mechanical choices best for you!

Remember to always strategize and build within your resources! Not all teams will have access to the same resources, whether it is parts or people. A strategy that seems to yield the most points per second on paper may not be as successful as a strategy that focuses on maximizing accuracy.

Scoring and Match Strategy

One of the first steps we recommend your team take is to plan out your potential strategy for playing the game. After taking time to read through the rules, sitting down to brainstorm strategies and ideas for build season is an exciting and challenging task. It's important to involve all team members in the brainstorming process, as diverse perspectives and expertise can lead to innovative and effective solutions. During the brainstorming session, it's also important to keep an open mind and embrace creativity, as this can lead to new and unexpected ideas that could give the team a competitive edge.

The scoring and match strategy for CHARGED UP involves maximizing points earned through various actions, such as scoring game pieces on grids, completing links, docking on and/or engaging with the charge station, and parking.

A team has to have a good understanding of the point system and the specific criteria for earning points in order to develop an effective scoring strategy. It may also be beneficial to focus on actions that earn the most points per action, such as completing links, which is worth more points than scoring a single game piece.

Additionally, teams should consider aiming to score game pieces in a way that maximizes their chances of earning links. This could involve prioritizing certain rows or nodes on the grid to focus on scoring in. It could also be important to have a strategy for the endgame, where robots attempt to park, dock, and engage with their charge station or continue to score game pieces. Overall, teams need to have a good understanding of the point system and the specific criteria for earning points. The team may choose to aim to score game pieces in a way that maximizes their chances of earning links and aim to engage and dock with the charge station as many times as possible.

Some questions to consider asking yourselves during this process are:

• What are our options for scoring during the different match periods (Autonomous, Teleoperated, End Game)?

• What are things that our robot MUST be able to do to be successful in this year's game? (ie- navigate over certain terrains like cable protectors or the charging station, etc.)

• Are there any aspects of the game that our team would like to focus on? April Tags are new this year and could be a fun challenge for vision processing!

Check out this video from the Kettering Robot in 3 Days team about Scoring and Strategy:

Robot and Game Rules

Watch the video below, presented by First Updates Now and brought to us by Kettering University, to see what seven of the most important Robot and Game Rules are to know for CHARGED UP!

However, in order to get a true sense of the 2023 FIRST Robotics Competition game, CHARGED UP, you must dive into the manual. The manual provides in-depth explanations regarding all of the components necessary for this challenge. It outlines how teams should approach the field, collect cubes and cones to charge, climb a tower, and deploy their robot into a goal to score points. With colorful diagrams and detailed descriptions of the custom components and scoring system, the manual helps teams understand exactly what is required for them to excel at this competition.

Be sure to read up on CHARGED UP before gearing up for an exciting competition season!