From Entry to Podium · YAI Zero-Waste City

Roadmap

How we will talk — four beats

Legal game first, then capital, then repeatable scoring.

Rules

The field OS. How the mat splits, how 180s runs, how balls score, what makes a robot legal, which moves warn or DQ. Without rules, every later win recipe is fiction.

Capital

L1–L5 is entry language, not a medal catalog. Name the problem, change one thing, try again — same habit on match day. Class buys a ticket and shared words, not an automatic podium.

Win craft

Cycles and data. Reliable intake, repeatable shots, dual-robot roles, stopwatch practice — that is how the score table becomes a two-round total. Same pattern in international ball games.

Character

Respect the line and warnings, log honest hit-rates, finish under pressure, debrief without blame. Medals fade; these habits decide whether practice reaches the scored match.

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01 · RULES

Learn the rules: the field’s operating system

Rules

Field and task — what game you are playing

Official mat: green Starts below; five top circles (2 blue + 3 green, larger center) = score targets.

220×180

Field cm

Rule size. Official mat art.

30×30

Green Start

BL/BR green Start pads (raised to match tiles).

5 circles

2 blue + 3 green

Top blues far; larger center green = +5; side greens = +10.

Hard law: robots stay out of the top bin zone. Only the ball may cross in the air into a circle.

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Rules

Scoring — where every point comes from

+20

Top blue circles

Two blues = far / high

+10

Side green circles

Near left/right

Larger center green

Bigger = +5 not +10

In zone, miss

Not in a circle

×2

Same color ≥3

Center (+5) excluded

Final = two-round sum. Blue +20; side green +10; larger center green +5 (no ×2). Miss in zone +1.

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Rules

Legal robot and process red lines

Robot compliance (measured at check-in)

Size ≤ 30×30×30 cm
All axes. Arms, thrower, wheels count. Measure every session — not 15 minutes before the match.
Motors ≤6 · servos ≤2 · sensors ≤4
Same caps as the controller. Ref programs use drive + grab + throw and still fit; count ports before adding.
LEGO structure · no metal structure
Body must be LEGO-compatible. Metal structure fails inspection. Creativity stays inside legal parts.
One main controller
One board per robot. Pairing, upload, battery status live there; pit crew must read lights and swap packs.

Process red lines (warn / DQ)

Check-in 15 minutes before
Staff check size and rules. Late or uninspected mods = already behind. Pit list: ruler, packs, program version.
Deploy within 1 minute
Called → ready is a short window. Practice full box-to-start deploy, not only field runs.
No control before referee signal
Moving early = warning. Hands-off sticks until signal — train it like a reflex.
Raise hand to intervene · clock runs
Special cases need permission; match continues. Restore pose after. Not a free pause.
3 warnings → disqualification
Early drive, illegal field touch, destructive speed can warn. Warnings are a KPI — target 0.
Confirm and sign on the spot
Stop on end signal. Score confirmed and signed on field. Dispute window is there, not later.

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02 · CAPITAL

Rules clear — now the capital you bring

Capital

L1–L5 is shared language, not a medal catalog

Words you use together to change the robot and the program are capital that still works on match day.

Structure & force · launcher

Gears, links, CG, throw. Why grip fails, why shots tip the bot, why far bins need another arm — physics language.

L2–L3

Drive & remote

Motors, loops, gamepad. Move, turn, basic grab/release — where most teams clear the entry bar.

Chassis structure

Chassis blueprint: rebuildable, measurable, tunable arms. Stable structure first, then parameters.

Remote macros

Not swapping sensors/motors. Pack a move chain (far/near throw) into one remote macro / custom block — fewer mis-taps, faster pit edits.

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Gap

Enter ≠ stable scoring

180s · two-round sum. Entry is the ticket; stability is legal cycles that still repeat under pressure.

ENTER

Can enter = rules ticket

Pass size check-in
Box measured, structure legal, controller live. Fail here and the rest is zero.
Basic drive and grab/throw
Move, turn, complete at least one pick–move–release. Proof you can enter the game.
Know clock and midline
State 180s and “no robot part in classification.” Unknown boundaries leak points as fouls.
One legal full loop
Not a high score — a complete legal sequence. Entry proof, not podium standard.

STABLE

Scores steady = win standard

Primary path matches the table
Agree before start: sides +10 default or far +20 when earned; color script on paper. Guessing live donates points.
Intake and shots are measured
Logs: hits out of 10 by target. “Feels fine” is not stable.
Two-robot roles don’t collide
Clearer and shooter paths separated. Two heroes on one pile zero each other’s cycles.
Round two holds
Battery, looseness, and nerves show in R2. Stable teams aim R2 ≈ R1, not a heroic R1 only.

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03 · WIN CRAFT

Win craft: turn the score table into a two-round total

Map

Peer games — four transfers that pay here

Foam-ball, tiered-goal games keep proving: reliability and cycles beat flair.

Tiered goals: cash first, ceiling second

High/far vs low/side is a global pattern. Strong teams fill the reliable tier (here: side +10) before data promotes far +20 — not all-in on style at kickoff.

Intake before fancy drive

Rollable objects punish weak intake; a missed grab is a zero-point cycle. Same for 6 cm balls: grasp rate is mechanism KPI #1.

Roles, not dual heroes

Alliance thinking: one clearer stages balls, one shooter scores. Total cycles beat two egos on one pile.

Stopwatch and log culture

Elite teams manage cycle time and hit tables. Practice without a log mostly repeats the same error.

Transfer methods from international ball robotics — not another event’s statute. Zero-Waste rules remain authoritative.

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Cycles

The win unit: one full cycle

Approach → secure grip → aim → release → reset. Stopwatch, not vibes.

Define and time each step

Split one score into five steps; write seconds per step. Stuck on grip? Fix grip. Don’t randomly rebuild the whole robot.

Approach — line up on the ball2.0s

↓

Grip — close and feel the load2.0s

↓

Aim — square the bot to the bin1.5s

↓

Release — one trained button1.0s

↓

Reset — back to the pile1.5s

One legal cycle8.0s

Back-solve capacity from 180s

At 8s stable cycle you have ~20 theoretical chances — fewer after misses. Train shorter stable cycles, not one longest bomb.

180s ÷ 8s = 22 theoretical cycles
Minus misses, traffic, resets (~25%) → ~17 real
17 × side green +10 = 170 pts a round
Far blue +20 only beats that above ~50% hit rate — measure it, don’t guess
Two rounds: R1 proves the number, R2 copies it

Change only one variable per block

Speed, angle, wait, or role — one at a time. Otherwise you cannot know what worked or copy it into round two.

Pick one variable — speed, angle, wait, role

↓

Run 10 identical reps

↓

Log hits and cycle seconds

↓

Compare against last block

↓

Keep it, or revert it

↺ Next block — next variable

Recipe: stable cycles × legal points per cycle ≈ expected round score — then think two rounds.

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Scoring idea

Pick the main line from the score table first

Same scale as slides 4–5: field rectangle + Start squares + five score circles (no mat photo).

+20

Top two blue · far

Conditional main line when hit-rate clears your gate.

+10

Side greens · near

Default main line — short cycles for two-round sum.

Larger center green

Low priority; bigger circle = +5 not +10; no color ×2.

Positions/sizes match slides 4–5 trace (geometry only, no mat photo). Color ×2 excludes center.

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Intake

Intake reliability is the first mechanism

A missed grab zeros that cycle. Make “we can get the ball” predictable before “we can throw far.”

Secure contact on the 6 cm ball

Intake must hold without edge slip. Jams often cost more than soft misses — one jam can erase multiple cycles.

Log gates, not feelings

Every block: hits out of 10. Example recipe: ≥9/10 before a grasp method is match-primary; below gate = transitional only.

Everything inside the 30 cm box

A beautiful oversize arm fails check-in = zero. Measure after every mechanism change.

Clearer feeds the shooter

Clearer stages balls into a hot zone and color piles; shooter hunts less. Under a two-robot rule, this structure usually maximizes total score.

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Shooter

Repeatable shots beat the single farthest attempt

Balls cross the midline; robots do not. Calibrate near and far separately.

Separate near and far profiles

Different power or angle for sides vs row-2, mapped to fixed driver actions. Match driving should not improvise thrust.

Sequenced shot + version control

Common pattern: reverse wind → forward pulse (timed). Save known-good before retuning; roll back in seconds if it breaks.

Retest half-pack and back-to-back fields

Full-battery hero shots lie. Round two changes voltage and looseness. Training must include half-pack or two-round sims.

Trajectory obeys the hard law

A perfect bin entry that required the chassis over the line is still a foul. Fix arc and release point — not nose position.

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Control

Code and hands — both serve the cycle

Code recipe (tunable, rollback-ready)

Centralize critical numbers
Slow/fast, throw pulse, deadzone in variables or obvious blocks. Pit changes numbers, not an entire wall of code.
Stop-all and safe pose
Any driver can kill motion. On jam, near-line risk, or pre-signal — stop beats bravery.
Segment move / grab / throw
Three independent parts so faults localize. Match day ban: rewriting the whole shooter stack.
Filenames: team_date_vN
Upload only validated builds. Morning-of rewrites are round-two bombs.
Upload offline for the field
Sims and matches use standalone upload mode; do not bring tethered debug habits into field flow.

Hands recipe (complete under pressure)

Eyes on the bin, not the wheels
Aim by target. Wheel-watchers hesitate or drift at the midline.
Fixed cadence, fewer big corrections
Approach–grip–turn–release as rhythm. Big swerves burn seconds and raise collision risk.
Train full cycles under noise and countdown
Quiet-room hit-rate does not count. Complete legal motions with shouting and clocks.
Full warm-up before scored round one
Run the primary path once for battery, grip, near/far — then enter scoring.
Zero reckless crashes; zero early control
High-speed field damage and jump-starts are warning sources. Hands-off / stop must be reflexes.

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Team

Two robots + pit = one machine

Roles on paper beat four people who can all drive.

Clear

Stage balls, open lanes, sort color piles, feed the shooter’s hot zone. Success = shooter time spent hunting falls.

Shoot

Only the primary score path and agreed colors. Not full-field patrol. Success = cycle seconds and bin hits.

Pit

Battery, size stick, check-in answers, code version, score sign-off. Success = deploy under 1 minute, check-in once.

Watch

Clock, color counts, midline/foul risk, hit log. Success = one-sentence R1 data summary before R2 starts.

Round-two discipline: after battery/fastener check, copy the validated R1 script. Ban: “I just thought of a new far shot.”

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Practice

Practice systems strong teams share

Practice without a log mostly repeats the same error.

One sheet every field block

Required: grasp rate, hits by target, cycle seconds, warnings/near-fouls, R1 and R2 totals. Same format week to week.

Simulate full match flow, not only driving

1-minute deploy, no-touch until signal, 180s, report and sign — process is a skill; learning it live earns warnings.

Warnings as a KPI

Rules: 3 warnings = DQ. Training target is not “warnings are fine sometimes” — it is long-run zero.

Weekly rhythm example

Three ~90 min field blocks: (1) mechanism & hits (2) stopwatch cycles (3) full two-round sim. Class time keeps L1–L5 foundation — don’t hollow it out.

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Chain and traps

One chain inside the rules — and effort that usually fails

Compute → reliable intake → shots that count → copy across two rounds.

Score script

→

Intake

→

Shoot

→

Two-round hold

Trap: farm center for ×2

Rules: row-1 center is excluded from same-color bonus. Wrong target makes practice more expensive, not better.

Trap: creep over the midline “just a little”

Any part in the classification zone is illegal. Fix trajectory and release — not nose position.

Trap: match-day rewrite / full-battery heroes only

Strong teams ship known-good code; round two needs half-pack and back-to-back data. Live rewrites and full-pack illusion are the two classic collapse sources.

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04 · CHARACTER

Medals fade. Respect for rules and data does not.

Character

How you show up — eight observable behaviors

Respect rules

Midline, signals, and warnings are not trivia. Three warnings can zero a day’s work — respect is competitive skill.

Honest data

4/10 is written 4, not “fine.” Fake hit-rates make the whole team change the wrong part.

Change one thing

Scientific method: otherwise you never know what worked and cannot teach the next driver.

Finish under pressure

Still complete a legal motion in the countdown — without panicking into a line foul or empty grab. Trained, not shouted.

Roles over glory

The clearer’s lane decides shooter space. Late points often come from off-camera staging.

Debrief without blame

Script: “Next round I change…” Work the problem. Blame teams do not improve in R2.

Theme empathy

Zero-waste: sort and cycle. Theme literacy is real — and still not on the score table. Legal points first.

Long horizon

Two steady rounds beat one spike. The format pays for copyable performance, not highlight reels.

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IITS Hong Kong · YAI Zero-Waste City · YAI-2602

Rules define a legal match

Field, scoring, compliance, and red lines are the OS. IITS classes give entry language and foundation so you can stand on the start line.

Stability is a repeatable cycle

Inside the rules: score script, intake reliability, shot profiles, dual-robot roles, two-round discipline — written, trained, measured.

Leave with stopwatch, log, and respect

Rank is one outcome. Being able to explain the gain — and finish hard things with teammates — is what still exists after the field is packed.

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