The 2012 FRC (FIRST Robotics Challenge) game is entitled "Rebound Rumble". In this game, two alliances of three teams each compete in a tournament that is very similar to the popular sport basketball. The goal of the game is to shoot 8 inch basketballs into regulation size baskets.

During the first 15 seconds of each match, robots participate in what is known as hybrid mode. During this time, robots may only operate off of pre-loaded code. The only exception to this rule was a feature that was new for this year: each alliance has the option to allow one of their teams to control their robot with the aid of an XBOX Kinect. This feature introduced new challenges for the programmers, who must now figure out how to incorporate motion control into the design of their robot.

After the initial 15 seconds has passed, drivers can take control of their robots for the remainig two minutes of play, known as teleoprated mode. Each of the two alliances have a side of the playing field in which they are allowed to score. Each basket setup has a total of four baskets. One is situated at the top of the structure, two are placed in the middle, and one is found at the very bottom of the field element. The rules state that each robot may only hold up to 3 balls at one time. Teams must shoot these balls into one of the four baskets. Some teams have chose to incorporate a camera and powerful lights into the control of their robot. Each hoop is placed in front of a backboard that has highly reflective tape on it. With the use of LED lights, a camera can track where the target is located and adjust its location to give it the ideal entry into the hoop.

The middle of the playing field features two interesting obstacles. Three ramps are balanced on a 6 inch tall and 12 inch wide bump. When attempting to cross midfield, robots have the option of either lowering and crossing the ramp, or attempting to navigate over the bump. These two elements affected how teams went about building their robots, for they would be at a great disadvantage without the ability to travel the length of the court.

The end game of this year's challenge is very unique. Robots are encouraged to balance on the ramps mid-court for bonus points. The more robots you have on a ramp, the more points your alliance gets. However, the middle ramp is know as the cooperitition ramp. On this one only, if one robot from the Red Alliance balances on it with one robot from the Blue Alliance, both teams recieve a large number of bonus points. This is to encourage gracious professionalism and cooperitition, which are two very important aspects of FRC and FIRST as a whole.

Overall, this year has introduced many new aspects to the yearly FRC game. The adition of Kinect technology was especially interesting for it showed teams how a very popular device could be implamented into the world of FIRST Robotics. The coopertition ramp also helps to spread the ideas that though this is indeed a competiton, teamwork is far more important than actaully winning.