Robot Name: Maestro’s Symphony

Model Year: 2024

Robot Name: Zenith

Model Year: 2023

Features: Zenith was built from a similar chassis to Chad, our 2022 robot, but was narrowed slightly due to the limited space available on the charging platform (balancing board). Like Chad, Zenith uses WestCoast Products SwerveX modules on all four corners, although two were mounted in an unconventional orientation to allow more space for the intake. By its final design, Zenith used a roller intake capable of picking up both cubes and cones incredibly quickly and efficiently, pivoting on a wrist to allow for both pickup options, easy stowage within the chassis, and flexible deployment and scoring options. This intake/wrist combination was mounted on a single-axis arm to allow for extension beyond the frame perimeter during scoring. Both of these assemblies were mounted inside a chain-driven two-stage framed elevator mounted at a sharp angle to allow us optimal reach of the scoring areas (poles and platforms). Although Zenith used a large number of Falcon and Neo motors, by the final design it didn’t use any pneumatics, which is unusual for our team.

History: Zenith was built with the goal of learning from many of our previous mistakes. This ranged from things as simple as more accessible electronics and a more thoughtful initial design process to keeping a better eye on the weight limit and being more prepared to make changes mid-season. All of these played to our advantage, as we enjoyed frustration-free electrical troubleshooting and made creative choices from early in our design process (such as the unconventional front swerve orientation). However, one of the greatest accomplishments this season had to be the redesign and replacement of our entire intake mechanism within the span of a few short weeks. After the first competition we decided that our initial intake wasn’t sufficient, so we designed a new one in the span of one week and had it installed barely more than a week after that. The difference in performance was immediately obvious—Zenith was noticeably faster and more reliable right off the bat, even before our fantastic drive team had had much time to practice with it. Our software team also managed to get an auto-balancing program coded by DCMP, which was always a favourite with our alliance partners and fun for the team to watch from the crowd as Zenith flew over the charging station before crawling carefully back on. However, despite a strong showing, we unfortunately didn’t make it past DCMP this year. We did have a fantastic match at our first competition though—we were finalists at Sundome after beating Jack in the Bot’s 1st-ranked alliance in the semifinals round as the 8th-seed alliance, which many coined as the upset of the century.

Robot Name: Chad

Model Year: 2022

Features: Chad was built from a custom-designed chassis with WestCoast Products SwerveX modules, and sported a dual-flywheel shooter with an adjustable hood. Adjusting the angle of the hood and the speeds of the flywheels independently, and with the help of Limelight and some software interpolation, Chad was able to score from any point on the field. For pickup it used a simple pivoting intake with a combination of mecanum and compliant wheels which pulled game elements (freight) onto a belt conveyor to be primed for shooting once the flywheels had spun up. For this year’s climbing objective Chad used pully-driven and constant-force-spring-loaded telescoping main climbers with pneumatically-operated auxiliary climbers, allowing for the completion of a full traversal.

History: This was a really fun robot to watch fly around the field under the skilled operation of our fantastic drive team. It had a strong showing at its pre-district events, including a nail-biting finals round with a fully-BA alliance at the Sammamish event! Over the season Chad got better and better as the mechanical team worked out our climber issues (larger bearings to the rescue!) and the software team coded out an awesome 5-ball autonomous. While we were looking really strong heading into the district event, we were unfortunately marred by firmware issues with our RoboRio for the first half of DCMP. By the time we got them sorted out our rankings had suffered, and we unfortunately didn’t end up making it past districts. Despite this, the event was a great showing for our drive team, and we showcased some really excellent robot performance over the event. Overall, Chad was great robot, and continues to serve us as an excellent demo bot for outreach events—very little beats a robot shooting giant tennis balls into the air!

Robot Name: Bulbasaur

Model Year: 2020 - 2021

Features: Bulbasaur :D

History: The season was shortened to week 1 due to Covid. This robot was 492’s first venture into swerve drive modules using West Coast Products Swerve SS modules. Bulbasaur possessed an articulated conveyer system feeding into a dual fly wheel vision assisted shooter. Bulbasaur competed at Glacier Peak, competing into the quarter finals

Robot Name: Pikachu

Model Year: 2019

Features: Pikachu featured multipurpose end effector that could swing down and collect hatches with velcro and deploy them with carefully positioned pneumatic pistons or capture and shoot out cargo with rollers. Employing an improved elevator design from the previous year, our robot was able to successfully score from all available points on the field. Additionally, by raising up our end effector onto the varying heights of the HAB and utilizing small wheels in the back, we were capable of climbing every endgame to any level.

History: This was our 6th and last year using mecanum drive base before we converted to the West Coast Products swerve drive base from 2020 onward. We made it to Quarterfinals as alliance captain at the Glacier Peak District Event and Quarterfinals at the Auburn District Event, where we won the Innovation in Control Award for the second year in a row. Our team qualified for the PNW District Championship in Tacoma, Washington.

Robot Name: Kareem Abdul JabBot

Model Year: 2018

Features: Kareem Abdul JabBot had a clamping end effector that grabbed cubes combined with an elevator to lift them up to either the switch or scale to gain points. The elevator also supported a hook that could latch on to the bar and wind up its attached rope so the robot could climb. An additional mechanism that was unique to our robot was the flipper, located on the back to efficiently move cubes from the portal to the switch without the need of careful positioning.

History: We made it to Quarterfinals and received the Innovation for Control Award at the Glacier Peak District Event. We got to the semifinals at Auburn Mountainview and made it to the PNW District championship in Portland, Oregon.  

Robot Name: Satellite of Love

Model Year: 2017

Features: Satellite of Love doubled down as a gear robot! It was able to pick up gears off the floor and also able to grab gears from the load station and actively push the gears onto the scoring peg. The robot also had a climber, using Velcro for the rope attachment. The drive train used was Mecanum for this robot.

History: We won our first event of the year at Glacier Peak, did well at Auburn, and qualified for DCMP Championships. We made it to the world championships in Houston and finished first seed on Galileo Division. As captain of alliance 1, we played well into finals, losing only in a tie breaker match of the finals.

2016

Robot Name: Escargot

Model Year: 2016

Features: This robot was one of the lower profile robots we had made. It was designed to be able to pass under a low metal bar and score by shooting at the lower goal of the castle.

History: Sadly our first district competition did not go so well and our second competition, while better, wasn't enough to qualify us for Portland.

2015

Code Name: Stacker-bot

Model Year: 2015

Features: This robot was specialized to stack up giant totes of 4-6 with a recycling can on top.

History: We qualified for Worlds in St. Louis by having a great showing in all 3 qualifying competitions that year. At worlds 492 performed well in qualifying matches and was chosen by team captain 2056 to alliance #2 which went on to win Galileo.

2014

Code Name: Yoga-bot

Model Year: 2014

History: This year we finished first at the glacier peak regional and made it to the quarterfinals for both the Shorewood regional and at Portland. Sadly we finished a few spots under qualifying for worlds.

Robot Name: Helios
Code Name:
Model Year: 2009-2010
Status: Operational, need new code

Features:
The 2010 Robot features mecanum wheels on all four wheels and a pneumatic kicker in the front. The Robot also contains a lid that is able to bounce soccer balls into the offense zone when the balls return to the field. Helios is a small yet powerful robot that can go over the bump as well as through the tunnel. Helios is mainly a mid field robot, but also has a powerful kicker, allowing it to be an offensive robot as well.

Drivetrain:
Helios has 4 Mechemun wheels driven by four separate motors. Very maneuverable. It is able to move side ways when the front and back wheels move in opposite direction. This is very helpful as it reduces the time to line up with soccer balls.

History:
Helios performed around average during the qualifying round of the Microsoft Seattle Regional. There were problems with the driver station's wireless connection to the field management system because the ethernet port on the classmate PC used for the driver station was faulty. This disabled the robot for at least 3 rounds. However when it did work, Helios performed well and often scored the only points their alliance had. The TRC was picked as an alliance partner into the final rounds and performed very well until their alliance was eliminated during the semi-finals.

Robot Name:  Athena

Model Year:  2008-2009

Features:  Roller to aquire game pieces that are stored in a large hopper on the back of the robot. Then by rotating the roller in the opposite direction the pieces are forced to a turret on the top of the robot at which point they are shot twoards opposing robots trailers.

Drivetrain:  4 Wheel Drive Train using Kit of Parts "Slick Wheels" to interact with the Rigolith in the 2009 challenge. Please see the Lunacy page for game information. We again went with chains over belts for overall better control, and less slipping... even if that really won't matter considering the game...Built inside a standard Kit Bot from AndyMark.biz.

History: Athena did not perform as expected at the Seattle Regional. However, at the Atlanta Championships, Athena finished 22nd out of the 87 competing teams. A very respectable performance for the small, short range shooter.

2008

Robot Name: Mnemosyne

Code Name: Little Mermaid

Model Year: 2007-2008

Features: There were two versions of this year's robot. The first version had two 'arms' to reach out and grab the ball, then transport it around the field. It also had a pneumatic cylinder to remove the balls from the overpass. The second version of the robot had a launching device to throw the balls over the overpass. The dislodging device was changed to be a 'flap' that was driven under the goals. Although the device never successfully launched a ball over the overpass during a match, it was an amazing team build activity to complete the re-construction and implementation. 

Drivetrain: The traditional TRC 6 wheel drivetrain using chains rather then belts as the 2007 robot had.

History: The Little Mermaid led the TRC to be a seed at both the Seattle and the Portland Competitions. At both events, the TRC was eliminated after the Quarter-Final round. But the best part is that Mnemosyne will be re-usable for robot demos in the future.

2006

Robot Name: Gaea

Code Name: Honir

Model Year: 2005-2006

Features: Gaea is capable of both rolling balls out and shooting them into 8 and 1/2 foot tall goals.

Drivetrain: A six wheel drive robot, Gaea uses the FIRST gearbox with two CIM motors powering each side.

History: Gaea competed in FIRST at the Pacific Northwest Regional in 2006. Gaea was chosen to be on an alliance with Team 997 and Team 1566, but was eliminated after the quarterfinals. Gaea also competed at the International Championships in Atlanta, Georgia.

2005

Robot Name: Tyr

Code Name: Bar

Model Year: 2004-2005

Features: Powerful arm to lift 10 pound tetras onto 7 foot tall goal structures.

Drivetrain: Yet another six wheel drive robot, Tyr uses the FIRST gearbox with two CIM motors powering each side.

History: Tyr competed in FIRST at the Pacific Northwest Regional in 2005, ending as the top seed after the qualification rounds with a 9 win, 0 lost, 1 tie record and leading the alliance with Team 1595 and Team 604 to win the finals. Tyr is also the recipient of the 2005 Pacific Northwest Regional General Motors Industrial Design Award. Tyr also traveled across the country to the Championship competition in Atlanta, finishing as a finalist in the Galileo Division.

2004

Robot Name: Atlas

Code Name: Foo

Model Year: 2003-2004

Features: Atlas is a rubber ball and exercise ball handler. The rubber balls are sucked up into the cage by one of two rollers on the front of the robot. The rubber ball capacity is 4. There is an arm that can grab the exercise balls with the soccer goalie gloves.

Drivetrain: Atlas is another six wheel robot of ours. The power comes from a Bosch and a CIM motor on each side.

History: Atlas competed with FIRST at the Pacific Northwest Regional in 2004, ending as the top seed after the qualification rounds and leading the alliance with Team 1031 and Team 957 to win the finals. Atlas also traveled across the country to the Championship competition in Atlanta. Atlas was eliminated in the semifinals in the Galileo Division.

2003

Robot Name: Hyperion

Code Name: Pingu

Model Year: 2002-2003

Features: Hyperion begins a match with the autonomous mode, during which it drives up a ramp using a giro for direction to knock down several bins. After this, Hyperion camps on top of the ramp while waiting for the operator. Hyperion features an arm that goes up and down to take down stacks of bins. In addition, scoops come out to take down more stacks at the same time. The original model features brake pads that left Hyperion unmovable on top of the ramp (they were later removed, as they blocked the free movement of the wheels.)

Drivetrain: Hyperion features our original 6 wheel drive frame for ease of control. It is capable of going at a maximum speed of 16 feet per second. Hyperion is driven by four motors for extra torque.

History: Hyperion has competed at the Silicon Valley Regional where it made it to the semi-finals. At the Pacific Northwest Regional, Hyperion won second place in the finals.

2002

Robot Name: Chronos

Code Name: POS

Model Year: 2001-2002

Features: Chronos is a soccer ball handler. Soccer balls are sucked up into the basket by a roller on the front of the robot. There is a grabbing arm on the back of the robot which takes a hold of a goal structure, allowing Chronos to drive around while holding on to the goal. Once Chronos has positioned the goal in a good spot, its basket lifts up and dumps all the balls into the goal structure to score as many points as possible. Chronos is capable of carrying up to 20 soccer balls per load.

Drivetrain: Chronos uses our original 6 wheel drive base which makes control of the robot easier. The wheels are driven by two drill motors mounted on our custom motor mounts. Chronos also features a shifting mechanism: high speed for fast movement, and low speed to haul goal structures.

History: Chronos competed with FIRST at the Southern California Regional in 2002 and made it to the finals. Chronos also went to the Pacific Northwest Regional and won second place in the finals. Later at the Titan Robotics Fall Invitational 2003, Chronos won most of the events played at the competition.

2001

Robot Name: Prometheus

Code Name: Nigel

Model Year: 2000-2001

Features: One arm in the front and another in the back, each capable of carrying a goal structure as pictured to the right and then balancing on top of a ramp.

Drivetrain: Prometheus features our original 6 wheel drive frame.

History: Prometheus competed in the Silicon Valley Regional where it won the Rookie All Star Award. Prometheus also competed at the national competition in Orlando, Florida, where it won the Play of the Day Award.