2017 FIRST Steamworks

FIRST Steamworks was the FRC game in 2017.

Game Overview
In FIRST Steamworks, alliances work to prepare their airships for launch at the end of the match. They do this by inserting fuel (small whiffle balls) into the boiler to build steam pressure and delivering gears to the airship to power its rotors. At the end of the match, ropes are lowered from the airships, and robots can climb up them to be ready for takeoff. Points are awarded for the amount of fuel put in the boiler, for successfully activating any airship rotors, and for climbing onto the rope at the end of the match.

Field Overview
The field is divided into two red and blue launchpads (one for each alliance) demarcated by the launchpad line. In between the two launchpads is the neutral zone. Each launchpad features a retrieval zone, an area where human players can feed recycled fuel and gears into the robot, and a key, a small area in front of the boiler marked off with tape matching the alliance's color. The boiler is in the bottom two corners of the field bordering the launchpad, and the airships are located at the edge of each launchpad.

Boiler
The boiler is the machine that converts fuel into steam pressure. There is one for each alliance in the corner opposite to the scoring table. They have a high goal and a low goal. The high goal has a funnel shape and processes fuel at a higher efficiency, meaning less fuel must be used up to build up steam pressure. The low goal is simply a 2 ft. 1 in. opening in the boiler, and it processes fuel at a lower efficiency (see scoring section). The high efficiency goal is surrounded by a net and is made so that all missed shots will roll back onto the field.

Airship
The airship features the rotors and climbing rope that robots climb at the end of the match. The airship is also unique in that it requires at least 1 human player known as the pilot to be inside of it to place and spin gears, making it the first game where a person is allowed on the field during gameplay.

There can be a max of 2 pilots per alliance. Robots deliver gears to the airship, specifically to one of the 3 lifts facing the alliance station. The pilot then pulls on a cable to bring the gears up and places the gear on the airship to activate the motors. The steam tank is also in the airship, which is the large center of it. It has LED lights of the alliance color on it indicating how much steam pressure has been built up. Each 10 kPa generated will activate one row of LEDs in a white color, while an additional 10 will turn that row the alliance's color. Lastly, the airship also features a structure known as the davit, which is where the ropes are stored. During the last 30 seconds, the pilots will deploy the ropes from the davit. The robot must climb all the way up the rope and touch the touchpad at the top of the rope to get points for climbing.

Retrieval Zone and Loading Lane
When fuel enters the boiler, they will eventually exit out into a return bin in the Alliance station. The human player must make sure that when a return bin or any overflow bin is full, they must go and empty it in through the retrieval zone. Robots may enter the retrieval zone, and human players can feed in balls or gears to the robot. A special area known as the loading lane is provided so that human players can easily walk from the retrieval zone to the alliance station without interrupting the robot drivers.

Key
The key is simply a small, taped-off area in front of the boilers. It is there so teams can input fuel into the low efficiency goal. It has no major function; however, robots cannot spend more than 5 seconds in the opposing alliance's key, or they will receive a foul.

Scoring
Bolded items apply only to qualification matches, while italicized items apply only to playoffs.

Robots
The team is currently in the process of building a robot for this game.