The game and your strategy
Understand the rules, compare tasks, and choose a realistic first robot.
A strategy is a plan for what your team will do to help win a match. Start with the game and your team's abilities, then choose the . A is useful only if it helps you perform a legal task reliably.
Learn the game together
Watch the official game animation as a team. Pause to name the field objects and identify how points are scored. Then open the current Competition Manual, the official document containing the rules.
The animation introduces the game; it does not contain every condition. Find the written rule for any action you plan to build around. Check the , which announce rule changes and clarifications. 's official lets teams ask questions about how rules apply. Advice from another team is helpful, but does not replace the rules.
Give students small reading jobs: scoring, robot limits, game restrictions, or event requirements. Each person should explain the useful parts to the team in ordinary language. Keep the original rule link beside your private notes so you can check a detail later.
The season overview explains the current game. Keep this general planning method when the next game arrives.
Compare the tasks
List the actions a robot could perform, including simple movement and any end-of-match task. A scoring is one repeat of an action, such as collecting an object, taking it to a target, and scoring it.
For each possible task, ask:
- How many points does it earn, and under what conditions?
- What must the robot collect, reach, carry, or detect?
- How long does the whole cycle take?
- Can we build and practise it with our time and tools?
- Could a failed attempt block our partner or damage the robot?
A is a consequence for breaking a rule, often giving points to the other . A high-scoring idea that regularly causes penalties may hurt your result.
Use test results as soon as you have them. For an invented example, a 10-point task completed on 8 of 10 attempts gives 80 points across those attempts. A 20-point task completed on 3 of 10 gives 60. That comparison does not include time, penalties, or partner actions, but it shows why success rate matters alongside the advertised points.
Choose the first useful robot
Pick a dependable way to drive and one scoring task. Add a modest autonomous goal that your team can test repeatedly. You can improve the robot later.
Write a short requirement for each chosen action. A requirement is a condition the design must meet. “Collect from the floor” is a start; “collect this object from these approach angles without leaving the allowed robot size” gives you something to build and test.
Check the current starting size and expansion rules before settling the layout. Expansion is the robot becoming larger after the match starts. A part that fits while folded may still break a rule when extended.
Plan with your partner
Before each match, tell the other team what your robot can do consistently. Agree your starting positions, autonomous paths, main scoring jobs, and what happens if something fails.
Do not promise an untested feature. A partner can plan around “we drive and score here” more easily than “our new autonomous might work.” Leave space for the other robot and learn how your actions affect theirs.