Pollen Harvest — Practice Game
Pollen Harvest is our custom practice game for the spring season. It's robot-vs-field, played on an 8′×8′ field. The goal is simple: collect yellow wiffle balls ("pollen") and deliver them to the Bee Hive. 12 balls, one robot, one shot at a clean run. Autonomous is worth big points, but Tele-Op rewards sustained ball flow. Pull it all together to rack up a high score.
1 Field Setup
1.1 Dimensions
- 8 ft × 8 ft field
- 12-inch wall height
- Standard FTC tiles recommended
1.2 Pollen (Game Elements)
- 12 yellow wiffle balls total
- 3 groups of 4 balls
- Placed 2′ in from the far wall, on 2′×2′ tile intersections
- Not stacked — all flat on the mat
1.3 Red Scoring / Loading Zone
- 2 ft × 2 ft square
- Near-left corner — two sides touch the field walls
- Used for human-assisted scoring and endgame parking
1.4 Bee Hive (Scoring Structure)
- Lower-right corner of the field
- ~18" wide, 6" deep, ~8" off the mat, ~4" wall height
- White pipe exits the hive and runs ~2′ along the right wall, sloping to the floor
- A triangular deflector at wall height redirects returning pollen toward center field
- Pollen is scored when it rolls through the pipe and returns to the field
2 Match Structure
- 1 robot, no alliance partners, no opposing robot
- Format: Robot vs. Field
Autonomous Period
30 seconds — pre-programmed code only, no driver input.
Tele-Op Period
2 minutes — drivers take over, run and gun.
3 Autonomous Period
Rules
- Pre-programmed code only — no touching the controllers
- Robot may collect pollen, score directly into the hive, or deliver pollen to the red zone
Scoring
- Each pollen scored through the hive: 5 points
End of Autonomous
- Robot must come to a complete stop
- If the robot is fully inside the red zone and holding pollen at the stop, the drive coach may remove those pollen and place them into the hive — each one earns 5 points
Autonomous is 5x the points of Tele-Op per ball. A solid auto routine that scores even 4 or 5 pollen puts you in a great position heading into driver control.
4 Tele-Op Period
Rules
- Drivers control the robot normally
- Robot may collect pollen, score into the hive, and re-cycle balls as they exit the pipe
Scoring
- Each pollen scored through the hive: 1 point
The pipe returns balls to the field after scoring, so if your intake is fast you can keep cycling the same balls repeatedly. High scores come from keeping the robot moving and the intake full.
5 Human-Assisted Scoring
This only happens if every condition below is met. All of them. At once.
All conditions required
- Robot is completely inside the red zone
- Robot is fully stopped
- Drive Hub is off (robot is disabled)
- Pollen are in robot possession
- Only the drive coach (adult mentor) interacts
Restrictions
- No picking up loose pollen from the field
- No repositioning the robot
- No repairs or adjustments
- Only pollen already in the robot may be scored
Process
- Drive coach removes pollen from robot
- Places them into the hive
- Robot may then restart
6 End Game — Parking Bonus
- Robot must be fully inside the red zone
- Robot must be stopped on the Drive Hub
- Bonus: +5 points
5 points is 5 tele-op balls. If you're close on time, parking is worth it.
8 Scoring Summary
| Action | Points |
|---|---|
| Pollen scored in Autonomous (each) | 5 |
| Pollen scored in Tele-Op (each) | 1 |
| Endgame Park — red zone | 5 |
Pollen exit the hive via the return pipe and come back onto the field, so there's no cap on Tele-Op score — keep cycling.