We build robots
Student-built competition robots. The toaster thing is a long story.
We're a student-run robotics team at Monte Vista High School. We design, build, and program a competition robot every season, and we share everything we learn with anyone who asks.
The name is ironic.
The robots are not.
We're a student robotics team in the FIRST Tech Challenge: an international competition where high schoolers design, build, and program 18-inch robots to play a brand-new game every season.
We do the engineering, the fundraising, the outreach, and the fire-watch. The name sets expectations on the floor so the robot can clear them. Judges call it memorable; we call it insurance.
Full team story- 01 Chassis18 inches of aluminum, rebuilt weekly.
- 02 ElementsThree programmers, two on electrical, zero cold solder joints.
- 03 Crumb trayFull. We document everything, including the mistakes.
- 04 WarrantyVoided. Proudly.
New to FTC?
FIRST Tech Challenge is an international robotics competition for high schoolers. Every September a new game drops; every team gets about twelve weeks to build an 18-inch robot that can play it.
Teams are student-run: we do the engineering, the fundraising, the outreach, and the documentation. Adult mentors advise, but the robot is ours. That's the whole point.
The season, in order
September: the game drops
Fall: design, prototype, build
Winter: league meets and qualifiers
Spring: championships, then it starts over
This season's machine
Built for this season's game. It doesn't have a name yet; the committee is still arguing.
Every season starts the same way: a new game drops in September and we get about twelve weeks to design, prototype, and program a machine that can play it. The current answer drives, it scores, and it has only briefly smelled like burning.
The full CAD, code, and build notes live on the Resources page. We publish everything, including the mistakes. Especially the mistakes.
- Unit
- Unnamed, for now
- Class
- 18-inch FTC
- Build window
- ~12 weeks
- Status
- Operational-ish
- Toast setting
- 4 of 6
Where to next?
Fund the flames
Robots run on money and questionable decisions. We supply the decisions; sponsors supply the rest. Settings start at $500.
Outreach
Demos, mentoring, and STEM events across the community. Crumbs included at no extra charge.
Resources
CAD, code, and notebook templates, free for any team that wants them.