Breakaway is the challenge for the 2010 FIRST Robotics Competition. The game is based on soccer but also implements hanging robots into part of the scoring system. It’s played on a 27×54 foot carpeted area with three alliances on each side attempting to score soccer balls on the goals nearest to their driver stations. Using cameras, robots can track targets displayed above the goals and use pneumatic or motor driven kicking devices to score. A goal is worth one point, a hanging robot is two, and a robot hanging on another is three.

Two sets of bumps run the width of the field, dividing it into three equal zones. A white line divides the field lengthwise, creating a total of six sections. Robots start autonomous mode in one of these sections along with a certain number of soccer balls. These dividing bumps are also big obstacles as teams will have to skillfully design their robots to be able to cross over these bumps with ease. In addition to going over bumps, robots can cross to different zones by going through the tunnels. On top of these tunnels are the towers. During the finale period (the last twenty seconds of the match), robots can try to become fully suspended off of the ground by attaching to one of the return bars at the top of the tower. Ending the match with a robot either on the tower platform or suspended by one of its return bars is worth two points. In addition to this, a robot may try to suspend itself on another alliance member’s robot. Each robot that ends the match like this is an additional three points.

Each team has one human player. Two human players from each alliance stand by the corrals. They grab balls as they are scored by robots. These players then hand the balls off to the third human player. This player stands in the center, underneath the ball return, with the trident. The trident is a three-pronged piece of PVC pipe that the human player uses to return balls into play. Only one person may handle the trident per match. Players have a limited amount of time to return balls to play after they are scored.

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