Ruckus Information

The Rah Cha Cha Ruckus (The Ruckus) is an off-season FIRST Robotics Competition event, loosely based on a Halloween theme.  It is a community effort, put together and sponsored by members of several Rochester and Western New York-area FIRST teams. The event is an annual success due to the dedicated efforts of our many volunteers!

This year's event will be held Saturday, October 27th, 2012.
Please see the the schedule for details on the day's competition schedule and events.

The event is completely free and open to the public.  The event is fun for families and is a great way to see what the FIRST Robotics Competition is all about.  Younger students involved in FIRST LEGO League (FLL) and Jr. FLL may find the event particularly enjoyable.

About This Year's Game

This year's game, Rebound Rumble, is loosely based on basketball.  Robots attempt to score foam basketballs into any of their four basketball hoops.  Hoops at various heights are worth different points. Robots can use advanced vision systems to help in aiming their "shots" at the backboard.  In the closing seconds of the match, robots scramble to climb and balance on teeter totter-like bridges in the center of the playing field to earn bonus points. For an excellent introduction to Rebound Rumble, check out FIRST's video on the game challenge.

About FIRST Robotics Competition

FIRST Robotics Competition, or FRC, is a robotics competition aimed at inspiring high-school students in the fields of science and technology.  The heart of the competition program is working alongside adult mentors to build, in just 6 weeks, a 120 lb. robot to compete in a 3 vs. 3 game. The game is completely new each year.

The competition is run by an organization named FIRST, which is itself an acronym:

For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology

In addition to FRC, for high-school students, FIRST also runs several other programs similar in concept.  FIRST LEGO League (FLL) and Jr. FLL, for younger students, is oriented towards small teams of students building and programming Lego-based robots to complete various challenges in competition.  FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) is another program for high-school students, focusing on smaller teams and with an added benefit of lower material and competition cost.