When fellow Robots – For The Win! writer Bryan English and I decided to attend and cover the robotics competition at Kettering University in Flint, Michigan we had no idea what we were in for. Oh sure, we knew there would be high school students that built robots for some specific task, but to summarize this event that way would be like summarizing Star Wars as an indie movie from the 70’s.

When we walked into the Kettering Recreation Center we were struck right away by the size of the event. Bleachers were set up all around a “court” where the robots would play their game The atmosphere was very much like a championship basketball game, with students from different schools chanting, leading cheers, and loudly supporting their teams. Mascots where everywhere, from the very entertaining students dressed as “ThunderChickens” to students dressed as robots, lightning bolts, and more. Entire teams were even dressed up, wearing capes and hats with flames, or shirts with construction logos on them or just shirts with their team’s colors, names and sponsors.

As the games progressed and the teams they support came onto the court, the students would wildly cheer and root for their team. Music was also always playing providing a perfect backdrop to the day. As particular songs came on between matches, students might suddenly break out dancing like a scene from a John Hughes 80’s movie, with students from multiple schools standing up and dancing routines so well you would swear they got together ahead of time and worked out the choreography.

In other words: The atmosphere was incredibly fun and infectious. The room was full of joy and happiness and excitement.

As to the game itself (called Lunacy), the rules are complex, but I will try and sum them up as best as I can. I will not deny it, seeing the game played was the best explanation. However, the basics are this: Each team is part of a three-team alliance. Two alliances face off at a time. Each team has a single robot with a trailer being pulled behind it. These Alliances (Red vs Blue) would attempt to score by placing “moon rocks” in the opposing alliance’s trailers.

The “rocks” can be placed into the trailers either by robots or by people behind glass that throw the “moon rocks” into the trailers. These “moon rocks” also end up all over the court, which is a low-friction playing surface. So the robots gather up these loose “rocks” to use as ammunition against the opposing alliance. For those that were there, you know I am leaving a lot out in terms of the rules, strategies and more. These games were complex enough that I could write a whole article just on how to play and what strategies were employed. So, for now, I am going to just leave it at the overly simplistic “put the moon rocks in the trailer” explanation.

The game and its rules are put together by FIRST, an organization founded by Dean Kamen (inventor of the Segway) back in 1992.

Since more points are awarded for a robot placing a “rock” into an opposing alliance trailer than if a person throws the “rock” into the trailer, a big part of the challenge was figuring out the best ways to accomplish this task.

While implementations varied wildly, the types of robots could be categorized into two types: Turrets and Dumpers. The turret style allowed the robot to shoot the “rocks” from a distance or close-up as well as giving the advantage of being able to aim the firing mechanism. The biggest disadvantage was that they could only shoot one “rock” at a time. The dumper style of robot could only score when right next to a trailer, but had the advantage being able to drop multiple “rocks” at one time.

The morning was the qualifying rounds. Each team would go multiple times, teamed up with different teams each time. The top teams from the morning would then get to move on to the afternoon tournament.

And here is where yet more strategy comes in: The top teams would then select from the teams that are left, two additional teams to help them form and alliance for the afternoon rounds. Teams would then accept, or if they felt they could build stronger teams on their own, decline.

There was much cheering when alliances would form, though none more than from the teams from Pontiac, Canton and Goodrich. By chance the Pontiac team (Wings of Fire) and the Canton team (Lightning Robotics) were sitting next to each other in the stands. Soon, the two schools were doing coordinated cheers and chanting “Red Alliance” (and later “Blue Alliance” when their colors had to change). They were boisterous, fun and as excited as any fans at any sporting event. Watching them was almost as much fun as the robot games themselves.

This is not to say other teams didn’t do the same thing: Quite the contrary. Chants and cheers only got louder as the finals approached and the winners about to be crowned.

When the finals were played – it was intense. Every player was at the top of their game, trying to drive and will their robots to get the “rocks” in to the opposing alliance trailers.  In the finals were the aforementioned Wings of Fire, Lightning Robotics, and Martians as the Blue Alliance. The Red Alliance was Xtreme Eagles (Romulus), Truck Town Thunder (Ortonville) and Team RUSH (Clarkston). After an intense battle and a very close set of matches, Red Alliance came out on top. At the end all players on both alliances came out and shook each others hands – and not just in a “we are required to do it” kind of way – they all seemed to be genuinely congratulating each other.

Here is the reality: in this article I am only touching on just what an amazing experience this was. Being there is really the only way to experience this event. There will be another in March. It is free to attend. You should be there.

Tomorrow, I am going to write about the students themselves. We were lucky enough to interview some of the students as well as Bob Nichols who put together this program 10 years ago. The article will be about why the students do this, how they came to choose some of the designs and why Kettering puts on this competition.

For the record, here are the winners in the Kettering FIRST Lunacy Competition:

Top Score (awarded to the Alliance with the highest score in the morning qualifiers) – Wings of Fire, Metal & Soul (Capac), Killer Bees (Auburn Hills)

Number One Seed (individual team that was seeded the highest going into the quarterfinals) – Xtreme Eagles

Robot Design Excellence (to the team whose robot demonstrates excellence in performance, aesthetics, reliability, simplicity, efficiency and innovation) – Truck Town Thunder

Spirit of FIRST (to the team who shows the most team spirit, student/engineer collaboration, gracious professionalism, and teamwork) – Lighting Robotics

Safety (to the team that progresses beyond safety fundamentals by using innovative ways to protect against hazards and promotes safety in their practices) – EngiNERDs (Grand Blanc)

Big Dog (second place alliance team) – Wings of Fire, Lightning Robotics, Martians

Top Dog (first place alliance team) – Xtreme Eagles, Truck Town Thunder, Team RUSH

Final note – you can see a few more videos on our YouTube channel.