Challenges presented by FIRST to students are always unique, different every year, and this year is proclaimed as Breakaway. With this theme in mind, teams must arrange and create a robot to fit the requirements. The game of “Breakaway” consists of said robot managing soccer balls around an arena. Teams of three form alliances for each match—each match will have six robots on the field for correct play—and each match with said robots will be two minutes and fifteen seconds. Competitive streaks can run high, since robots are allowed to play defense in order to prevent the opposing teams from scoring. Each team must score within their own goals for points, or otherwise, the point goes to the foe. Obstacles are also arranged in turn to keep the teams on the edge. A treacherous risk is the 12 inch high constructed bumps– if a robot goes to fast or incautiously, they run the risk of flipping over. Tunnels are built as side road, but if the robot is too wide, the only available road left are the bumps. Additional points can be gained through an end performance in the last 10 seconds. Robots can hang themselves from a seven foot tower – even more points can be gained by those who can stack robots atop robots.