As many of you know, the FIRST community gathered to receive a message from some of the greatest minds in the country on Saturday, January 9. That’s right, build season is here, folks, and boy is that feeling sweet. Prepare to devote more time than you ever have before to one singular goal: to inspire education and innovation in science and technology.
For those of you who don’t know, this year’s game is known as “Breakaway,” and it is based upon the game which is so well-enjoyed the world over, football (“soccer” to us Americans).
Also see a complete description of all game rules here.
Good luck teams and devoted fans! Have fun thinking and building!
Boston Dynamics, a company specializing in robotics, has been awarded a contract to develop a new-generation jumping robot. The robot, to be called the Precision Urban Hopper, will have four wheels and one leg, which allows it to jump over or onto obstacles up to 25 feet tall. To read more, click here, or see a video of a prototype in action, click here.
According the the blog of FRC Director Bill Miller, the FIRST Board of Directors has approved the use of the District Event model piloted by Michigan in the 2009 competition season. Although approved, it is too late for the system to be implemented outside of Michigan for the 2010 competition season; therefore, for the 2010 competition season, the District Event model will be used only in Michigan, and the Regional Event system will be used everywhere else. Just as in the 2009 competition season, teams in Michigan are free to attend regional competitions if they so desire. At this point I am concerned that the implementation of the District Event model may take away from the community by limiting what competitions that teams can attend, although it is up to the community to decide which model to use.
In other news, the GDC has essentially decided on what the 2010 game will be, and are working out scoring.
Wind River, the supplier of the C++ Development System used in FRC (Wind River Workbench),will soon be purchased by Intel for $884 million dollars, despite hefty fines by the EU. The acquisition of Wind River could possibly lead to Intel’s expansion in the embedded systems market, for which Wind River provides software and services.