Zone Zeal was the 2002 game for the FIRST Robotics Competition

FIRST Robotics Competition

The FIRST Robotics Competition is an international high school robotics competition organized by FIRST. Each year, teams of high school students compete to build robots weighing up to , not including battery and bumpers, that can complete a task, which changes every year...

. In it, robot

Robot

A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...

s playing in alliances of 2 competed to move goals and balls into various zones within the playing field.

Playing Field

The playing field was divided into fifths called zones. At the beginning of the match, there were 40 balls arranged along the sides of the field in the center zone and the two adjacent zones. In the center zone were three mobile goals.

The zones were numbered 1 through 5. The Blue team could score by placing ball-filled goals in zones 4 or 5, and could score a bonus 10 points for every goal in zone 4. At the end of the match, for every robot Blue had in zone 1, Blue would score 10 points. For the red alliance, it was the opposite. Balls could be scored in zones 1 or 2, goals would receive bonus points for being in zone 2, and robots scored 10 points each for ending the match in zone 5.

Scoring

The primary source of points in Zone Zeal was placing balls in the mobile goals, then moving the goal into the appropriate zone. For every ball in a goal, an alliance received 1 point. For every goal in the alliance's goal zone at the end of the match, the alliance would receive 10 points. Further, the team would receive 10 points for every robot in the robot zone at the end of the match.

Events

The following regional events were held in 2002:

• Buckeye Regional - Cleveland, OH
• Canadian Regional - Mississauga, ON
• Great Lakes Regional - Ypsilanti, MI
• Johnson & Johnson Mid-Atlantic Regional - New Brunswick, NJ
• Lone Star Regional - Houston
• Motorola Midwest Regional - Evanston, Il
• NASA Kennedy Space Center Southeast Regional - Kennedy Space Center, FL
• NASA Langley/VCU/School of Engineering - Richmond, VA
• New York City Regional - New York City
• Pacific Northwest Regional - Seattle
• Philadelphia Regional - Philadelphia
• SBPLI Long Island Regional - Long Island, NY
• Silicon Valley Regional - San Jose, CA
• Southern California Regional - Los Angeles
• Western Michigan Regional - Grand Rapids, MI
• UTC New England Regional - Hartford, CT

The championship was held at Epcot Center, Disney World, Orlando.

Further reading