Today was the kickoff for the 2010 FIRST Robotics Competition, Breakaway.  The game is played on a 27'x54' field with two large bumps crossing it with two towers in the middle.  The object of the game is to "kick" soccer balls into corner goals and hang on the towers at the end of the match.  For more information, see the Games Page.

After several team members attended the Regional Kickoff event at San Jose State University, the entire team convened at Bellarmine College Preparatory, our home school, to discuss strategy.  Small groups were formed with students and parents and various game objectives were discussed and weighed.  At the end of the two hour session, we had a good idea of what objectives we wanted to focus on in Breakaway.

After a lunch break, many members of the team moved up to the NASA Ames Robotics Exploration Lab, our build site, to begin field construction.  After confirmation the the field surface was carpet once more, we rolled out our carpet and seamed it together.  Another group worked on construction of a "bump" so that drivebases could be designed.