DEWBOT V Payload Specialist

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Matt shooting at Chesapeake Regional

Lunacy provides an huge opportunity for Human Players (a.k.a. Payload Specialists) to score directly...and to score big!

The traditional FRC Human Player is called the Payload Specialist in the 2009 competition, Lunacy. The Payload Specialist role is a tremendously important one in this game. Payload Specialists can score directly by shooting Moon Rocks or Super Cells into opponents' Trailers. Bonus scoring with Super Cells is not possible without effective Payload Specialist coordination.

Elizabeth shooting from the Outpost during PARC XII

There are two different types of Payload Specialists: Outpost and Airlock. Each alliance has one Outpost Specialist who shoots Moon Rocks from a seated position in the middle of the field. The Outpost Specialist also startes each match with (4) Empty Cells and must feed these Empty Cells to alliance robots (who then must transfer the Empty Cells to an alliance Airlock).

Each alliance has two Airlock Specialists, who play from the field corners. The Airlock Specialists shoot Moon Rocks from a standing position. They also recover Empty Cells from the Airlock for exchange into Super Cells. During the last 20 seconds of each match, the Airlock Specialists may shoot these Super Cells into opposing Trailers. A Super Cell in a Trailer scores 15 points, as opposed to 2 point for Moon Rocks or Empty Cells.

Team 1640 went through a disciplined process to select and train both types of Payload Specialists. Field pieces were set up to enforce realistic shooting conditions for candidates. Last year's robot was adapted to pull our practice Trailer, thereby providing an accurately moving target to shoot at.

Payload Specialist training at DEC using DEWBOT IV to pull the Trailer

Three first-rate Payload Specialists were trained and participated in our competitions. Matt is our Airlock Specialist and an extraordinary scorer. Elizabeth and Alex are our Outpost Specialists. The 2009-2010 school year adds Praveen, Cole and Vamshi to this specialist group.