On September 12, Texas based FIRST Tech Challenge teams gathered around the state at Kickoff events to get a first glimpse of this season’s game: FIRST® RES-QSM. An estimated 51,500 students on 5,150 teams around the world will participate in the 2015/2016 season.
The 2015/2016 game, FIRST® RES-QSM, is modeled after actual rescue situations faced by mountain explorers all over the globe. Played by two Alliances of two robots each, robots will score points by: “resetting” Rescue beacons; delivering Rescue Climbers to a shelter; parking on the mountain; and parking in the Rescue beacon repair zone or floor goal. Robots may also score points by retrieving debris from the playing field and placing them in mountain or floor goals, and also by hanging from a pull-up bar during the last 30-seconds of a match.
Earlier this year, FIRST announced the adoption of a game-changing technology platform to be rolled out for the 2015/2016 FIRST Tech Challenge season. The new platform, consisting of handheld devices, will be powered by Snapdragon 410 processors from Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, a FIRST Strategic Partner.
“We are excited about this season’s game, and eager for our teams to embrace this new technology platform,” said Ken Johnson, Director, FIRST Tech Challenge. “As always, this season is about more than the robot. Students will collaborate, and learn through trial-and-error — much like a ‘real-world’ engineering project they would encounter in the workforce.”
FIRST Tech Challenge Global Sponsors include Official Program Sponsor, Rockwell Collins; Official IoT, CAD, and Collaboration Software Sponsor, PTC; and Official Control System Sponsor, Qualcomm Incorporated.