For those of you unfamiliar with the game, we have provided this brief explanation.

This year, the game the robots have to play is a ball game. Each robotics team is randomly allied with two other teams and opposed by a similar alliance. Each robot starts with 10 balls. The object of the game is to shoot balls into baskets set up at the ends of the playing fields. Points are also awarded for sweeping balls into side bins as well as having your robot on the ledge in front of the baskets at the end of the gam.

The first few seconds of the game are played in autonomous mode where the robots must act based on internal programs. After that, the robots' human controllers may drive the robots and attempt to score baskets using the robots external arms and shooters.

The game is played in three separate stages. The first stage is a free-for-all where each alliance tries to score as many points as possible while preventing the other side from doing the same. The next stage has one alliance on the offensive, collecting and shooting balls to score points, and the other alliance on defense, using their robots to stop the other alliance. For the third stage, the roles are reversed.