Destination: Deep Space

Destination: Deep Space, stylized as DESTINATION: DEEP SPACE and officially known as Destination: Deep Space Presented By The Boeing Company, is the FIRST Robotics Competition game for the 2019 season.[2] It involves two alliances of three teams each, with each team controlling a robot and performing specific tasks on a field to score points. The game centers around an outer space theme involving two alliances consisting of three teams each competing to place poly-carbonate hatch panels and orange rubber balls or "cargo" on rockets and cargo ships before returning to their HAB platform to climb at the end of the match.[3]

Destination: Deep Space

Year	2019
Season Information
Number of teams	3,790[1]
Number of regionals	62
Number of district events	111
Championship location	Houston George R. Brown Convention Center Minute Maid Park Detroit Cobo Center Ford Field
Awards
Chairman's Award winner	Houston 1902 - "Exploding Bacon" Detroit 1816 - "The Green Machine"
Woodie Flowers Award winner	Allen Gregory IV - Team 3847
Founder's Award winner	Raj Subramaniam - FedEx
Champions	Houston 973 - "Greybots" 1323 - "MadTown Robotics" 5026 - "Iron Panthers" 4201 - "The Vitruvian Bots" Detroit 3707 - "Brighton TechnoDogs" 217 - "ThunderChickens" 4481 - "Team Rembrandts" 1218 - "SCH Vulcan Robotics"
Links
Website	Official website
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Kickoff

The kickoff event occurred on January 5, 2019. The kickoff video was styled after a rocket launch, with information about FIRST and the game reveal itself linked to specific points in the countdown. The event was livestreamed starting at 10:30 AM Eastern Time, with many teams attending their own local kickoff events.[4][5]

Field

Destination: Deep Space is played on a 27 ft (823 cm) by 54 ft (1646 cm) field that is covered in grey carpet. The field is bounded by transparent polycarbonate guardrails on the longer sides and the Alliance Station walls on the shorter side. The field features two types of zones, one for each alliance. The hab zone contains robots at the start and end of each match, while the alliance station is where drivers control their robots. For the first time, a Google Cardboard headset was included in the kickoff kit to allow teams to view a virtual field.[6]

Alliance Station

Each alliance has their own Alliance Station that is positioned at one of the ends of the field. The Alliance Station is where drivers control their robots, human players deliver game pieces to robots, and coaches give advice to their team members. Each alliance station features two game piece holding areas on either side of their driver stations.

Depots

Depots are placed on the field next to the alliance stations, with two per alliance. Before the match starts, alliances are permitted to stage cargo in their respective depots for robots to retrieve during the match.

Sandstorm

The sandstorm is installed above each alliance's alliance station, and is used to block the drive team's vision of the field during the sandstorm period. Once that period ends, the sandstorm retracts in order to allow drivers to see the field for the remainder of the match.

Loading Stations

Each alliance station features two loading stations near the edges of the alliance station. Human players use the loading stations to deliver hatch panels and cargo to robots through a chute, where they can be collected by a waiting robot.

Rockets

There are four rockets on the field, two per alliance. Each rocket features three levels, made up of two bays, where game pieces can be scored. Two hatch panels and two pieces of cargo can be scored on each level.

Cargo Ships

There are two cargo ships placed in the middle of the field, one per alliance. As with the rockets, each cargo ship features bays where hatch panels and cargo can be scored. Each cargo ship has eight bays, each capable of holding one hatch cover and one cargo.

HAB Platforms

Each alliance controls one hab platform near the alliance station wall. Robots start the match at their alliance's respective hab platform, and must return to the same platform at the end of the match. Each hab platform has three levels, and parking on a higher level at the end of the match earns the alliance more points.

Gameplay and Scoring

Scoring Elements

There are two scoring elements in Destination: Deep Space; hatch panels and cargo. Hatch panels are 19 in. (~48 cm) diameter polycarbonate toroids, and cargo is represented by orange 13 in. (~33 cm) playground balls.

Before the match begins, teams may discuss and select their robots’ starting formation (i.e., which HAB level they will begin on), as well as which game pieces they will preload into the cargo ship. Each of the six side slots may be loaded with either a cargo ball or a ‘null’ hatch panel

Sandstorm Period

For the 2019 season, the sandstorm period is the first 15 seconds of the match and replaces the autonomous period, which had been used in many previous FRC games. Robots start the match at their respective HAB platforms, fully supported by HAB platform level one or two. The Sandstorm is a black curtain that begins down to obscure players’ vision of the field. During the period, robots can act solely on pre-programmed instructions, therefore acting autonomously, or under control of their drivers with the optional aid of a vision system mounted on the robot (as they are unable to directly see the field due to the Sandstorm). Robots can earn points in a variety of ways. For each robot that fully crosses the HAB line during the sandstorm period, the alliance earns three points if the robot started on HAB platform level one and six points if the robot started on level two. Robots are also able to earn points for scoring hatch panels and cargo on their alliance's rockets and cargo ship. As these actions carry the same point value as if they occurred in the tele-operated period (or teleop), they will be further discussed in that section. After the 15 second sandstorm period expires, the curtain retracts to grant players vision of the field, and teleop begins.

Electromagnets inside the cargo ship release after this period ends, releasing any cargo not secured by hatch panels. Therefore, there is some risk in selecting to load the cargo ship with cargo balls over null hatch panels - the null hatch panels will immediately hold a cargo ball, for a total value of (0 + 2 =) 2 points, however, a cargo ball secured by a hatch panel before the end of the sandstorm phase is worth a total value of (3 + 2 =) 5 points.

Scoring is further described in the Scoring Summary section.

Tele-operated Period

After the sandstorm period ends, the tele-op period begins, which lasts for 135 seconds. Drivers control their robot from their Driver Station and human players may deliver game pieces to the robots. During this period, as in autonomous, every hatch panel scored on a rocket or cargo ship will earn two points for the alliance. Additionally, scoring cargo into a rocket or cargo ship will earn three points for the alliance. Hatch Panels must be scored before cargo (as the cargo will simply roll out), unless there are Hatch Panels installed on the bay.

Endgame

The last 30 seconds of the teleop period is called the endgame. During this time, robots can earn additional points by climbing back onto their alliance's HAB platform. A robot ending the match on HAB level one will earn the alliance 3 points, while ending the match on level two will earn 6 points and ending the match on level three will earn 12 points.

Special Scoring

In tournament play, teams are ranked by their Ranking Score, or the average number of Ranking Points they achieve per match. Ranking Points are earned through both winning matches and completing secondary objectives. Therefore, it is more beneficial to focus on accumulating as many ranking points as possible, rather than simply winning every match.

An alliance can earn a ranking point during the qualification rounds by accumulating a total of 15 points at the end of the match through climbing the HAB, known as the HAB docking bonus. An alliance can also earn a ranking point by completing one rocket, which entails scoring two hatch panels and two pieces of cargo on each of its three levels. A foul will result in 3 points being credited to the opposing alliance, and a technical foul will result in 10 points being credited to the opposing alliance.

Scoring Summary

Action	Sandstorm	Teleop	Ranking Points (in Qualification)
Sandstorm Bonus (Level One)	3 points
Sandstorm Bonus (Level Two)	6 points
Hatch Panel	2 points	2 points
Cargo	3 points	3 points
Hab Climb Bonus (Level One)		3 points
Hab Climb Bonus (Level Two)		6 points
Hab Climb Bonus (Level Three)		12 points
Hab Docking			1 RP
One Complete Rocket			1 RP
Foul	3 points to opposing alliance	3 points to opposing alliance
Tech Foul	10 points to opposing alliance	10 points to opposing alliance
Win			2 RP
Tie			1 RP

[7]

Events

The competition season for Destination: Deep Space is divided into seven weeks, with many events occurring simultaneously during each week. After Week 7, teams that have qualified compete in the FIRST Championship, held over two weeks in Houston and Detroit. Only regional and district championship events are shown.

Week 1

Event	Location	Date
Palmetto	Myrtle Beach, South Carolina	February 27 – March 2
Montreal	Montreal, Canada	February 27 – March 2
Orange County	Costa Mesa, California	February 27 – March 2
Del Mar	Del Mar, California	March 1 – 3
Istanbul	Istanbul, Turkey	March 1 – 4

Week 2

Event	Location	Date
Bosphorus	Istanbul, Turkey	March 5–7
Lake Superior	Duluth, Minnesota	March 6–9
Northern Lights	Duluth, Minnesota	March 6–9
Oklahoma	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	March 6–9
Arkansas Rock City	Little Rock, Arkansas	March 6–9
Miami Valley	Dayton, Ohio	March 6–9
New York Tech Valley	Troy, New York	March 6–9
Canadian Pacific	Victoria, Canada	March 6–9
Central Valley	Fresno, California	March 6–9
Midwest	Chicago, Illinois	March 6–9
Monterrey	Monterrey, Mexico	March 6–9
San Diego	Del Mar, California	March 6–9
Southern Cross	Sydney Olympic Park, Australia	March 9–12

Week 3

Event	Location	Date
Arizona North	Flagstaff, Arizona	March 13–16
St. Louis	St. Louis, Missouri	March 13–16
Rocket City	Huntsville, Alabama	March 13–16
Finger Lakes	Rochester, New York	March 13–16
Orlando	Orlando, Florida	March 13–16
Central New York	Utica, New York	March 13–16
Heartland	Olathe, Kansas	March 13–16
Great Northern	Grand Forks, North Dakota	March 13–16
Mexico City	Mexico City, Mexico	March 13–16
Los Angeles North	Valencia, California	March 14–17
San Francisco	San Francisco, California	March 14–17
South Pacific	Sydney Olympic Park, Australia	March 15–17

Week 4

Event	Location	Date
Iowa	Cedar Falls, Iowa	March 20–23
Bayou	Kenner, Louisiana	March 20–23
Greater Pittsburgh	California, Pennsylvania	March 20–23
Laguna	Torreón, Mexico	March 20–23
Colorado	Denver, Colorado	March 20–23
Central Illinois	Peoria, Illinois	March 20–23
Los Angeles	Los Angeles, California	March 20–23
Greater Kansas City	Kansas City, Missouri	March 20–23
Sacramento	Davis, California	March 20–23
Hudson Valley	Suffern, New York	March 21–24
Monterey Bay	Seaside, California	March 21–24
SBPLI Long Island #1	Hempstead, New York	March 24–27

Week 5

Event	Location	Date
Smoky Mountains	Knoxville, Tennessee	March 27–30
South Florida	West Palm Beach, Florida	March 27–30
Wisconsin	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	March 27–30
Buckeye	Cleveland, Ohio	March 27–30
Utah	West Valley City, Utah	March 27–30
Hawaii	Honolulu, Hawaii	March 27–30
Idaho	Nampa, Idaho	March 27–30
Ventura	Ventura, California	March 27–30
Las Vegas	Las Vegas, Nevada	March 27–30
SBPLI Long Island #2	Hempstead, New York	March 27–30
Minnesota 10,000 Lakes	Minneapolis, Minnesota	March 27–30
Minnesota North Star	Minneapolis, Minnesota	March 27–30
Silicon Valley	San Jose, California	March 28–31
Israel District Championship	Tel Aviv, Israel	April 2–4

Week 6

Event	Location	Date
Seven Rivers	La Crosse, Wisconsin	April 3–6
Pacific Northwest District Championship	Tacoma, Washington	April 3–6
Mid-Atlantic District Championship	Bethlehem, Pennsylvania	April 3–6
Arizona West	Phoenix, Arizona	April 3–6
Quebec City	Quebec City, Canada	April 3–6
Peachtree District Championship	Emerson, Georgia	April 3–6
Aerospace Valley	Lancaster, California	April 3–6
Canadian Rockies	Calgary, Canada	April 3–6
Texas District Championship	Austin, Texas	April 4–6
New York City	New York City, New York	April 4–7
Central Missouri	Sedalia, Missouri	April 4–7
North Carolina District Championship	Lillington, North Carolina	April 5–7

Week 7

Event	Location	Date
Chesapeake District Championship	Fairfax, Virginia	April 10–13
Michigan District Championship	University Center, Michigan	April 10–13
Ontario District Championship	Mississauga, Ontario	April 10–13
New England District Championship	Worcester, Massachusetts	April 10–13
Indiana District Championship	Kokomo, Indiana	April 11–13

FIRST Championship

Event	Location	Date
FIRST Championship (Houston)	Houston, Texas	April 17–20
FIRST Championship (Detroit)	Detroit, Michigan	April 24–27

[8]

Results

The following tables show the winners of the subdivisions and finals at each FIRST Championship event.

Medal awarded to the finalist alliance in Hudson Valley, New York.

Subdivision Winners

Division	Captain	1st Pick	2nd Pick	3rd Pick
Carver	1678	7179	3132	1939
Galileo	971	179	3646	498
Hopper	2122	2046	6485	4192
Newton	973	1323	5026	4201
Roebling	148	3847	6829	2907
Turing	254	3310	6986	948

Round Robin

Pos	Division	Pld	W	L	Pts	Qualification
1	Turing (Q)	5	5	0	2	Advance to Einstein Finals
2	Newton (Q)	5	4	1	1.6
3	Carver	5	2	3	0.8
4	Galileo	5	2	3	0.8
5	Hopper	5	1	4	0.4
6	Roebling	5	1	4	0.4

Source: [9]
(Q) Qualified to the phase indicated.

Finals

Division	Alliance	1	2	3	Wins
Turing	254-3310-6986-948	117	98	103	1
Newton	973-1323-5026-4201	106	119	114	2

Subdivision Winners

Division	Captain	1st Pick	2nd Pick	3rd Pick
Archimedes	5406	930	1310	4004
Tesla	346	548	5401	2534
Carson	5050	111	4607	2052
Darwin	3707	217	4481	1218
Curie	195	3538	1073	230
Daly	4003	133	862	2614

Round Robin

Pos	Division	Pld	W	D	L	Pts	Qualification
1	Archimedes (Q)	5	4	1	0	1.8	Advance to Einstein Finals
2	Darwin (Q)	5	3	1	1	1.4
3	Curie	5	3	0	2	1.2
4	Tesla	5	2	2	1	1.2
5	Carson	5	1	0	4	0.4
6	Daly	5	0	0	5	0

Source: [10]
(Q) Qualified to the phase indicated.

Finals

Division	Alliance	1	2	3	Wins
Archimedes	5406-930-1310-4004	107	78	90	1
Darwin	3707-217-4481-1218	101	96	91	2

References

1. "FIRST Robotics Competition 2019 Season Facts" (PDF). www.firstinspires.org. Retrieved 2019-01-05.
2. King, Tierney (2019-01-08). "Students Navigate Deep Space in STEM-Related Game at FIRST Robotics Competition". Electronic Component News. Retrieved 2019-01-12.
3. FIRST. "FIRST LAUNCH 2019". info.firstinspires.org. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
4. "2019 FIRST Robotics Competition Kickoff". FIRST. 2018-08-16. Retrieved 2018-11-05.
5. "Robotics Kicks Off Its 'Deep Space' Program". San Marino Tribune. 2019-01-11. Retrieved 2019-01-12.
6. "Experiencing "Deep Space": a VR Project Update". FIRST. 2018-11-16. Retrieved 2018-11-18.
7. "FIRST Robotics Competition 2019 Game Manual" (PDF). firstfrc.blob.core.windows.net. Retrieved 2019-01-05.
8. "Home : FRC Event Web". frc-events.firstinspires.org. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
9. "CMPTX Playoff Matches : FRC Event Web". frc-events.firstinspires.org. Retrieved 2019-04-21.
10. "CMPMI Playoff Matches : FRC Event Web". frc-events.firstinspires.org. Retrieved 2019-04-27.