Archive: Around Town

Code Red Robotics' Build Season has officially begun! Code Red Robotics is an Ithaca High School student club, and one of over 3,000 teams that compete in the high-school division of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.) Each year, FIRST releases a game-like challenge for all high-school robotics teams in the world. The teams have six weeks from that day to build a 120 lb. robot to compete in the game.

Last year, Code Red Robotics and their robot were able to win a regional competition, and an award giving them a NASA grant qualifying them to compete in World Championships. At the World Championship event, Code Red ranked among the top 2% of teams.

On Saturday, January 7th, FIRST released the parameters for this year's challenge. The challenged was live-streamed in a video and a 150-page manual was released describing the details of the game.

The challenge, called FIRST Steamworks, has three main components. First, robots in two teams of three must gather small balls off of the field and shoot them into goals. There is a high-goal, which is difficult to access but gives the team more points, and a low goal, which is easy to access but gives fewer points. Teams can also gain points by taking gear-shaped game pieces from the field, and moving it to the 'airship' construction in the center of the field.

This tower-like construction has up to two human players inside it, who then take the 'gears,' and assemble them to allow fan-like blade construction to move. When these fans begin to spin, teams earn additional points. In the final 30 seconds of the match, the players on the field release a series of ropes from the 'airship,' and robots must quickly ascend the ropes. If they are hanging in the air and pressing a plate at the top of the rope, the team will earn additional bonus points.


The day that the game is released marks the beginning of our six-week build season. Students stay after school each weekday for six weeks, and work on the robot from 4:30-9:00 p.m., as well as from 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. each Saturday - a total of 30-plus hours per week. These six weeks are very intensive for the students, especially on top of normal schoolwork and midterms.

Completing the robot wouldn't be possible without the time and expertise of community mentors, who graciously volunteer to come to Ithaca High School during build nights. Code Red is an exclusively student-led team, but mentors help by guiding students, teaching how to use machines, and sharing their advice and expertise in engineering design and implementation. Faculty advisors and technology teachers from Ithaca High School also lend their expertise to Code Red.

Students and mentors will both be working tirelessly for the next six weeks to complete their challenge. In March, the team will be traveling to two regional competitions, where their robot will be able to compete against other teams from around the world. Make sure to follow Code Red Robotics on Facebook and Twitter for more frequent updates about the team's progress, and the season.

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