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Watch the Regionals Again! |
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FIRST Day at Valley Fair a SuccessJune 6, 2009 FIRST Day at ValleyfairRobots from small to medium to large will be on display during FIRST Day at Valleyfair, Saturday, May 30th. Teams that compete in FIRST Lego League, FIRST Tech Challenge and FIRST Robotics will be on hand throughout the day to demonstrate their 2009 competition robots. All of the action will take place live directly inside the entrance gate by the park Carousel; in the event of rain, the Galaxy Theater will be the place to be to catch all the action. For FIRST team members, discounted park tickets will be available at the Group Sales Building for $21. The Group Sales Building is to the right of the park’s main entrance. Tell them you're with FIRST – and wear your team t-shirts -- to receive the discounted price and so other teams can recognize you! Valleyfair is open from 10:00am to 8:00pm (www.valleyfair.com for more information). During that time, several FIRST teams will re-create the 2009 FRC “Lunacy” game; Prior Lake’s FTC team will exhibit “Face Off!, and FLL teams will run “Climate Connections” demonstrations. King TeC Survival GuideMay 3, 2009 Complete “Lunacy”!April 14, 2009 The Robettes Featured in Pioneer PressMarch 26, 2009 Publicity Blasts Off for FIRST LunacyMarch 11, 2009 Finals of FIRST Minnesota 10,000 Lakes Regional to Air on Metro Channel 6March 3, 2009 2009 Regional Team SocialDear FRC teams, 2009 FRC Kickoff at Northrop AuditoriumDecember 15, 2008 |
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WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL FIRST MINNESOTA REGIONAL WEBSITE!
FIRST Lunacy, this year’s FRC game challenge, is named in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Mission, the first time any human actually walked on the surface of the moon. Lunacy incorporates many lunar-like features and naming conventions. Similar to previous year’s games, the game this year pits alliances of three teams against each other in a two minute fifteen second match. Also consistent with games in the past, the first fifteen seconds constitute an “autonomous” period of control, in which robots are run using only pre-programmed instructions. For the remaining two minutes, human players are in control of the robots.
One of the most striking features of Lunacy is the playing surface, designed to mimic the poor traction available in low friction lunar gravity. In 2009, the game will be played on a 54’ x 27’ special slick surface, with an additional requirement that all robots must use special low traction “rover wheels” to enhance the slippery feel of driving on the moon’s surface. Robots will be equipped with circular “payload trailers,” which will add a new, unpredictable element to the manageability of the robots on the playing field.
To score, robots place 9” balls called “Moon Rocks” into the payload trailers towed about the playing field by robots of the opposite alliance. Each “Moon Rock” placed or thrown into an opposing robot’s trailer, by either a robot or human players outside the playing field, nets the alliance two points. Robots may also return “Empty Cells” (balls similar to “Moon Rocks”), to player stations located on the edge of the field to gain access to special “Super Cells.” These Super Cells also must be placed in opposing robot’s trailers, but when scored, give their alliance fifteen points instead of just two. Each alliance only gets four super cells however, and they can only be played in the last twenty seconds of a match.
Please visit http://robotics.nasa.gov/events/2009_frcwebcasts.php for more information on Lunacy and a FIRST animation of the 2009 game.