We are a group of students and mentors who meet at Issaquah High School to learn about and build robots. We compete in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition, in which we get 6 weeks to design, build, and program a robot to compete with and against other high school teams at a 3-day regional event. The challenge is different each year, but our skills continue to grow as our team gains experience.
We were a rookie team in 2004. Here is some information on our previous seasons.
2009 season
This has been our best season to date. We finished our robot, the Conveyor++, during the last week of build season, allowing us to visit the practice field to work on autonomous and driver practice. The robot used two independently controlled conveyors to lift orbit balls from the floor and shoot them into opposing alliance trailers. On the top of the robot we mounted camera for target vision tracking, allowing us to be one of the few teams to drive and score in opponent trailers in autonomous.
In Oregon, we were the only undefeated team in the seeding matches. Heading the 1st place alliance, we went on to win the regional with teams 1983, Skunkworks Robotics from Aviation High School, and 2635, Lake Monsters from Lake Oswego. This win qualified our team for the Championship in Atlanta, Georgia.
In Seattle, with half the teams being new, many thought it would be easier than Portland. However, we found that word of our success had spread since our victory and round after round we found ourselves being defended. After accepting an invitation from the 8th seeded alliance, we made it to the semifinals. Unfortunately we lost after one round where we were unable to move due to an unplugged PWM cable and unable to shoot during the next round due to an unplugged motor.
After some quick fundraising, we once again made it to Atlanta, Georgia for the 2009 Championship. Our team seeded 2nd of over 80 teams after going undefeated in the Galileo division. Heading the 2nd alliance, we made it to the Galileo semifinals, the furthest our team has ever been.
2008 season
The FIRST Robotics 2008 Competition kicked off on Saturday, January 5 2008. The archives of the kickoff are located at http://robotics.arc.nasa.gov/events/2008_frcwebcasts.php .
Team 1318 was awarded the Portland Regional Chairman's Award! As a result, we were invited to attend the Championship Event in Atlanta, Georgia in April.
We placed 2nd out of 31 teams at the Microsoft Seattle Regional and our alliance with teams 488 and 1696 was 3rd. We also won the Judges Award.
2007 season
The FIRST Robotics 2007 Competition kicked off on Saturday, January 6. You can view archives of the presentation and the game animation at http://robotics.nasa.gov/events/2007_kickoff.php.
Read our daily log to follow along with our team's progress before and during the build period.
We had great fun and success at the Pacific Northwest FIRST Regional on March 1 - 3!
We placed 13th out of 54 teams during the qualifying rounds, and joined the 5th-seeded alliance for the elimination rounds. We partnered with teams 488 and 1595, who are also Washington teams.
Our alliance won two quarter final matches to advance to the semi-finals, where we used our scouting information to let us know to roll out our secret weapons: an autonomous defense, and our awesome defensive abilities during the match. We fought hard, winning a match and tying another before giving up a second loss.
Our 2007 robot, as rendered from the CAD:
2006 season
The FIRST Robotics 2006 Competition kicked off on Saturday, January 7. You can view archives of the presentation and the game animation at http://robotics.nasa.gov/events/2006_kickoff.php.
Read our daily log to follow along with our team's progress during the build period. New! The log has been updated with details of our experiences during competitions, starting with the Pacific Northwest Regional.
2005 season
At the kickoff on Janunary 8, we got the description of the 2005 challenge. Read the daily log to follow our progress creating the robot and competing in the Pacific Northwest Regional in Portland, Oregon.
2004 season
We had a great showing in the robotics competition at the Pacific Northwest Regional (March 4-6 in Portland, Oregon), ranking 5th out of 36 after the nine seeding matches. That earned us the privilege of heading one of the eight three-team alliances in the finals. What a great accomplishment for a rookie team!