Editing 1996

{{Infobox Year
| bodystyle  = width:25em;
| year = 1996
| image  = [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/44957 https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=thumb/44957/thumb.jpg]

| tag = [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/list/1996/1 1996]

| header20 = Game Information

| game_name = Hexagon Havoc

| number_teams = 93

| number_events = 2

| header70 = {{#if:{{{winners|}}}|Awards}}

| chairman_winner       = [[frc144|144]]
| champions             = [[frc73|73]]
| finalists             = [[frc-114|-114]]

| prevyear = [[1995]]
| nextyear = [[1997]]

| image2     = {{{altlogo|}}}
| caption2   = {{{altlogocaption|}}}

}}

The 1996 FIRST Robotics Competition season formally began on February 10, 1996 at the [[kickoff]] event in Nashua, New Hampshire. Attendees were introduced to Hexagon Havoc, the [[kit of parts]] materials, some of the rules, and the playing field. Competition season consisted of the [[1996nh|1996 New England Tournament]] in Nashua, New Hampshire and the [[1996cmp|National Championship]] at the EPCOT Center at Disney World. Teams did not need to qualify for the Championship and could participate in the New Hampshire Tournament, Nationals, or both.

During the 1996 season, FIRST dropped the "U.S." in the U.S. FIRST name that they had operated under since being founded in 1989.

The [[Woodie Flowers Award]] was introduced in 1996 and was first awarded to [[Woodie Flowers]] himself. 1996 also saw the introduction of the modern black and clear acrylic trophies with FIRST logo on top and round medals for the event winners, while other awards were an acrylic plate in a wooden frame.

==Documentation==
===Partial game manual===
<pdf>https://www.frcarchive.com/frcwiki/images/a/aa/1996_Game_Manual_%28partial%29.PDF</pdf>{{TKHref}}<br>

==Playing field and scoring==
<gallery perrow=4 heights=250px widths=250px>
File:45839 - 1996 game materials.png|The playing field and starting positions in one-on-one-on-one rounds [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/45839]
File:45840 - 1996 game materials.png|Side view of the goal [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/45840]
File:45841 - 1996 game materials.png|Top-down view of the goal [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/45841]
File:45842 - 1996 game materials.png|Rear view of the human player station [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/45842]
</gallery>

The field is a carpeted hexagon with 16 foot long sides rimmed with 4 by 4 lumber. As in [[1995]], a plastic-covered cable fence surrounded the field.

The central goal is hexagonal with 25-3/4 inch long sides with an upper and lower section surrounded by wooden posts. A triangular frame forms three overhanging triangles where three of the large balls begin the match. A 24 inch wide circular hole in the top surface of the goal allows access to the lower area of the goal, as does the exposed portion of the lower goal itself. The goal is constructed from 2 by 4 lumber, 3/4 inch plywood, and 1-1/2 inch dowels. Other than the downwards force from the weight of the goal, the goal was not affixed to the carpet and could be pushed around the field or even tipped over by a strong enough machine.

The human player area consisted of a 3 foot 7 inch wide by 3 foot long 3/4 inch thick plywood ramp angled away from the playing field where it meets the base plate. The base plate is another 3 foot 7 inch wide by 3 foot deep piece of 3/4 inch plywood sitting flat on the carpet. The boarder lumber and fence extend along the sides of the ramp and base plates. Two vertical 2 inch diameter PVC pipes extend upwards from the bottom corners of the ramp with an 8 foot long horizontal pipe located so that the top of the pipe sits 60-3/4 inches off the carpet across them.

<gallery perrow=3 heights=250px widths=300px>
File:1254 - 1996 1996cmp frc141 match robot.jpg|[[frc141|Team 141]] ready for a match in the red position at the [[1996cmp|National championship]] [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/1254]
</gallery>

Three robots in the red, yellow, and blue positions play simultaneously in the seeding rounds and earlier rounds of playoffs, with two on two matches later on. Each team has two large and twelve small matching color balls. One of each color of large ball starts scored on the triangular corners of the goal directly in front of the robot in its colored position. The second large ball of each color begins the match 1/3rd of a clockwise rotation around the hexagon away from the robot in that position. A large ball that ends the match on or above the triangles is worth five points, while a large ball inside or above the main portion of the goal is worth ten points. Eight small balls start in a somewhat diamond-like configuration on the field 1/6th of a counterclockwise rotation from the robot in their colored position and four more start at the bottom of their matching ramp. Small balls scored inside or above the goal are worth three points. The scoring area is defined as the extension of the hexagonal profile of the goal (or the triangles, for scoring large balls on the triangles). The maximum possible score is 56 points.

1996 also marked the introduction of the human player. Human players were seatbelted down in the base plate and could remove balls from the field from under the horizontal PVC bar between the base plate and ramp or around the upright supports but could only get them back into play on the field by throwing them up and over the horizontal bar. Human players could not make contact with robots.

Each match lasts two minutes. The control system is automatically enabled and disabled when matches begin and end. At the end of the match, referees score the balls in the goal. In seeding matches, winners receive three seeding points, runners-up receive one seeding point, and losers receive no seeding points. At the end of seeding rounds, teams are ranked and play in a double-elimination tournament until eight teams remain, at which point a one-on-one best-two-out-of-three series begins with quarterfinals.

===Game strategy===

Most simply, matches involved collecting balls and scoring them as quickly as possible. Because of the positioning of the balls at the beginning of a match, some teams would scatter an opponent's cluster of small balls on the way to pick up their own. Generally, small balls were scored by aligning a portion of the robot with the wooden support structure of the upper goal and ejecting balls over the lower fence structure. Some robots collected the small balls into a box which could be pushed into the bottom of the goal and take up space, potentially blocking other teams from scoring. Covering or blocking the top of the goal with netting was also somewhat effective, assuming your robot could get into position and block before another robot began to score (and ideally be able to also score your own balls at some point as well). Because balls are considered scored when their geometric center is inside or above the goal, blockers were more ineffective against robots which could lift the large balls particularly high above the goal. The goal filling up with small and large balls (and lower goal blockers) was very possible and being able to hold on to a ball high above the goal was advantageous in general, especially because the first match tiebreaker was decided by the large ball in the highest position.

Because of the way that the scoring area was defined, and the overall construction of the goal, a completely legal strategy was to tip over the goal and score balls in the now closer-to-horizontal scoring area. Teams like [[frc42|team 42]] used a small flipper to tip the goal over and either sit the robot in front of the opening or aim it towards the human player station which could be loaded up with balls inside the scoring area.

With a well-controlled machine, knocking the opponent five-point balls off their starting position was fairly easy, especially with another large ball already in the machine's grabber to make it easier to hit them off. Against machines that could not manipulate the large balls this was very effective, but against machines that could score large balls in the middle of the goal this potentially saves them some of the trouble of trying to pick up (or knock off and then pick up) the five point ball from the corner to score it for ten points instead.

<gallery perrow=34heights=220px widths=250px>
File:45689 - 1996 1996cmp frc141 frc73 match robot.png|Team [[frc73|73]] pins [[frc141|141]] in quarterfinals four match two of the [[1996cmp|National championship]] after scoring all their balls [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/45689]
File:45646 - 1996 1996cmp frc100 frc121 match robot.gif|[[frc121|Team 121]] descores both opponent balls from the triangles before scoring their own ten point ball. Their three-point balls were previously scored low in the silver box [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/45646]
File:45700 - 1996 1996cmp frc23 frc42 frc90 match robot video.gif|[[frc42|Team 42]] flips the goal at the National championship [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/45700]
File:45638 - 1996 1996cmp frc-116 frc126 match robot team.gif|[[frc-116|Team -116]]'s human player descores a large ball at the National Championship [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/42680]
</gallery>

Human players could assist the robot in picking up balls or could take opponent balls from the robot and keep them to prevent them from being scored. Human players could also attempt to score in the goal or try to knock opponent five point balls off by throwing balls above the horizontal bar. Throwing a ball to scatter the starting configuration of the small balls on the field was also a common move.

During the later one-on-one playoff rounds, robots that could score either the maximum score or a very high score quickly could shift into playing defense for more of the round. With only one opponent to worry about, and no penalties for pinning indefinitely, some matches saw fast-scoring robots pinning their opponent for thirty seconds or more. [[frc73|Team 73]] scored several perfect rounds in a row at the [[1996 National Championship]] where they would pin their opponent for the rest of the match after scoring all their points.

==Robot construction==

<gallery perrow=2 heights=300px widths=350px>
File:45845 - 1996 kit of parts.png|Some of the materials available in the [[kit of parts]] [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/45845]
File:45648 - 1996 kickoff kit of parts.png|Teams inspecting kits of parts at the 1996 [[kickoff]] [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/45648]
</gallery>

Similar to previous years, robots were primarily constructed from items included in the [[kit of parts]] and $425 worth of materials from the [[Small Parts]] catalog with a handful of outside allowances. Fasteners did not count against the price limit as long as they were actually being used as fasteners. Like in [[1995]], no more than four pulleys and/or sprockets and 10 feet of belt and/or chain from outside sources could be used, and these components had to be used in the drivetrain. Building custom "suction cup" devices to hold onto balls was allowed in the rules, although all other pneumatic components had to come from the kit and could not be modified.

The kit included a variety of raw materials and components such as several types of shaft, aluminum, wood, polycarbonate and rubber sheets, four small wheelchair wheels, a selection of hinges, pivots, and magnetic catches, ball bearings, and springs. Allowed outside materials included some additional sheets of aluminum, polycarbonate, and a few varieties of pipe.

Robots had to display their sponsor and school name so that judges and referees could identify them during a match. Canonical team numbers were assigned, but were only used to order from Small Parts and pick up kits of parts.

Robots must fit unconstrained in a 36 inch cube at the start of a match and weigh no more than 120 pounds including batteries, almost doubling the 70 pound weight limit from [[1995]]. 

===Control system===

<gallery perrow=2 heights=270px widths=350px>
File:4744 - 1996 control system kickoff.jpg|The receiver and relay box (center), with RNET radio (above), drill motor and cooling fan (upper right) and Tekin speed controller (right), batteries and battery holders (below), pneumatic pump (lower left), and Delco seat motors (upper left) [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/4744]
File:3827 - 1996 build control system frc171 robot.jpg|The receiver and relay box, Tekin speed controllers, and drill motors on [[frc171|team 171]]'s 1996 robot [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/3441]
</gallery>
Two off-the-shelf PC flight sticks from CH Products were included in the [[kit of parts]]. These plugged into the bespoke Transmit Box and allowed for three axis of proportional control from each joystick (two for the joystick itself and a third for a thumb wheel) with two digital buttons on each joystick. An additional port on the transmit box could be used to wire in an additional custom controller at the expense of some of the controls on the joysticks.

The receiver and relay box functioned similar to the individual receive and relay boxes used in [[1995]], with relays being used to control the Delco seat motors and air pumps and PWM outputs driving the Tekin speed controllers. 

The transmit and receive boxes contained no software-programmable hardware, with joystick and button inputs just passing directly to the robot where the signals could be wired to speed controllers or relays. As in previous years, DIP switches allowed different buttons to control different outputs from the receive/relay box and limit switches could be wired in to automatically turn a motor on or off when hit or released.

The transmit and receive boxes could communicate wirelessly using a pair of [[RNET]] radios or a tether cable and adaptor plugged directly between the two boxes. RNETs would be surrendered before competition began and operating in the pits required use of the tether and tether adaptor.

Four Delco [[seat motors]] and two Milwaukee drill motors with gearboxes were included as well as two Tekin reversing speed controllers. Two Textron pneumatic pumps and a selection of pneumatic hardware including two pistons and two solenoid valves were also included. A computer-style muffin fan was provided to blow cool air over, typically, the drivetrain drill motors.

If used, drill motors had to be paired with a Tekin speed controller. Drills could not be plugged directly into the receiver or relay box and the seat motors, air pumps and valves, and muffin fan could not be plugged into the speed controllers.

==Team list==
{{TeamEventListHeader
|lowerCaption = 
}}
{{1996frc-65|event=y}}
{{1996frc-116|event=y}}
{{1996frc98|event=y}}
{{1996frc6|event=y}}
{{1996frc83|event=y}}
{{1996frc8|event=y}}
{{1996frc-43|event=y}}
{{1996frc12|event=y}}
{{1996frc13|event=y}}
{{1996frc16|event=y}}
{{1996frc71|event=y}}
{{1996frc-108|event=y}}
{{1996frc23|event=y}}
{{1996frc33|event=y}}
{{1996frc36|event=y}}
{{1996frc42|event=y}}
{{1996frc43|event=y}}
{{1996frc45|event=y}}
{{1996frc-14|event=y}}
{{1996frc47|event=y}}
{{1996frc85|event=y}}
{{1996frc148|event=y}}
{{1996frc-114|event=y}}
{{1996frc28|event=y}}
{{1996frc-96|event=y}}
{{1996frc-71|event=y}}
{{1996frc75|event=y}}
{{1996frc166|event=y}}
{{1996frc61|event=y}}
{{1996frc-84|event=y}}
{{1996frc86|event=y}}
{{1996frc26|event=y}}
{{1996frc176|event=y}}
{{1996frc175|event=y}}
{{1996frc73|event=y}}
{{1996frc74|event=y}}
{{1996frc80|event=y}}
{{1996frc-110|event=y}}
{{1996frc81|event=y}}
{{1996frc177|event=y}}
{{1996frc88|event=y}}
{{1996frc90|event=y}}
{{1996frc99|event=y}}
{{1996frc-68|event=y}}
{{1996frc-97|event=y}}
{{1996frc105|event=y}}
{{1996frc97|event=y}}
{{1996frc-83|event=y}}
{{1996frc110|event=y}}
{{1996frc111|event=y}}
{{1996frc108|event=y}}
{{1996frc116|event=y}}
{{1996frc120|event=y}}
{{1996frc58|event=y}}
{{1996frc121|event=y}}
{{1996frc-36|event=y}}
{{1996frc124|event=y}}
{{1996frc69|event=y}}
{{1996frc126|event=y}}
{{1996frc-67|event=y}}
{{1996frc129|event=y}}
{{1996frc131|event=y}}
{{1996frc130|event=y}}
{{1996frc138|event=y}}
{{1996frc141|event=y}}
{{1996frc144|event=y}}
{{1996frc146|event=y}}
{{1996frc100|event=y}}
{{1996frc-70|event=y}}
{{1996frc20|event=y}}
{{1996frc151|event=y}}
{{1996frc72|event=y}}
{{1996frc-115|event=y}}
{{1996frc155|event=y}}
{{1996frc155star|event=y}}
{{1996frc157|event=y}}
{{1996frc158|event=y}}
{{1996frc55|event=y}}
{{1996frc-112|event=y}}
{{1996frc161|event=y}}
{{1996frc-82|event=y}}
{{1996frc173|event=y}}
{{1996frc-30|event=y}}
{{1996frc140|event=y}}
{{1996frc37|event=y}}
{{1996frc-54|event=y}}
{{1996frc171|event=y}}
{{1996frc172|event=y}}
{{1996frc153|event=y}}
{{1996frc-76|event=y}}
{{1996frc200|event=y}}
{{1996frc190|event=y}}
{{1996frc191|event=y}}
{{TeamListFooter}}

==Official events==

==Unofficial events==

==News and unofficial media==
[https://www.frcarchive.com/frcwiki/index.php/File:1996_March_11_Kokomo_Tribune.pdf Kokomo Tribune (March 11 1996)]<ref name=tkh /><br>
[https://www.frcarchive.com/frcwiki/index.php/File:ASME_News_June_1996.pdf ASME News (June 1996)]<ref name=tkh /><br>
https://www.frcarchive.com/frcwiki/index.php/File:1996_June_Circuit.pdf Circuit (June 1996)]<ref name=tkh /><br>
[https://books.google.com/books?id=Av8DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA24&lpg=PA24&dq=hexagon+havoc&source=bl&ots=ZnyaF9__Iy&sig=ACfU3U3j4k5tVgMQRVpnDC6Ok_ldtkbm5w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjVhamls4mAAxUmmGoFHZc2C3w4KBDoAXoECAIQAw#v=onepage&q=hexagon%20havoc&f=false Boys Life (December 1996)]<br>
[https://www.frcarchive.com/frcwiki/index.php/File:1996_Forbes.PDF Forbes (1996)]<ref name=tkh /><br>

==Notes==
<references />