About FIRST Robotics Team 3489

Team 3489 “Category 5” is a FIRST Robotics team located in Summerville, South Carolina, just north of Charleston.  We have students from Ashley Ridge and Summerville High Schools, and a few from Goose Creek and Pinewood. Our team consists of fun loving and hard working students who know how to get things done! We were a very small rookie team last year and had many tough learning experiences. This year we are much larger and stronger, but with only three returning students, we still have a lot to learn. We practice in a professional work environment, the Bosch manufacturing plant. Team 3489 is split up into three sub-groups:

• Mechanical Engineering (Design, fabrication, assembly)
• Electrical Engineering (DC controls, wiring, programming)
• Multimedia (3D Animation, photography, web-site development)

Our goals are to learn about new technology, win awards, and most of all have fun!

What Is First Robotics?

The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) pairs high-school students with adult mentors (primarily engineers and teachers) to design and build robots that compete against one another in this high energy “Varsity Sport for the Mind™”.  Each year at the Kickoff in January, a new, challenging game is introduced. These exciting competitions combine the practical application of science and technology with the fun, intense energy and excitement of a championship-sporting event. Teams are encouraged to display Gracious Professionalism™ and to cooperate while competing – known as “Coopertition™". 

In 2012, FRC will reach 60,000 high-school students representing approximately 2,400 teams.  FRC teams come from nearly every state in the United States, as well as from Australia,  Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Dominican Republic, Germany, Israel, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Turkey and the United Kingdom,. FRC teams will participate in 52 Regional Competitions, 14 FRC District Competitions, one State Championship, and one Region Championship, and approximately 340 deserving teams will qualify to go to the FIRST Championship in the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, MO.

Students get to: 

• Learn from professional engineers
• Build and compete with a robot of their own design
• Learn and use sophisticated software and hardware
• Compete and cooperate in alliances and tournaments
• Earn a place in the World Championship
• Qualify for nearly $14.8 million in college scholarships

They compete to score as many basketballs into their hoops as they can during a 2 minute and 15 second match. The higher the hoop in which the basketball is scored, the more points the Alliance receives.

The match begins with a 15-second Hybrid Period in which robots operate independently of driver inputs. During this Hybrid Period, one robot on each Alliance may be controlled using a Microsoft Kinect. Baskets scored during this period are worth extra points. For the remainder of the match, drivers control robots and try to maximize their Alliance score by scoring as many baskets as possible.

The match ends with robots attempting to balance on bridges located at the middle of the field. In Qualification Matches, a robot from each Alliance will also try to balance on the white "Coopertition" bridge to score additional ranking points for each Alliance.

For complete game details go to: http://frc-manual.usfirst.org/viewItem/56