Robotics
Up-A-Creek Robotics · FTC Team 11260
Robotics took over my life throughout high school, at least 10 hours a week in person, countless more at home doing CAD and fabrication. FIRST Tech Challenge is a fast-paced 2v2 robotics competition where teams design, build, program, and operate custom robots each season. Our team, based in Longmont, Colorado, has a long-standing history of competitive excellence dating back to 2016, sharing a building with FRC team 1619. Over 50+ awards in 4 years including multiple World Championship titles. I joined as a Rookie in 2021 and became Hardware Lead by 2023, later also serving as Drive Team Lead. Visit the team website →
2024–2025: Into the DeepWorld Champion
Robot: E-Clips
Hardware Lead & Drive Team Lead · Senior Year
Tasked with picking up plastic rectangular "samples" of three colors from a common pool before scoring them in a basket or attaching clips to be hung from a rung. The common pool resulted in heavy collisions between grabbing mechanisms. Additional points for hanging the robot from bars at end-game.
Innovation
We were widely cited as "breaking the game", E-Clips was the only match-proven clipbot. This allowed 10 clipped samples during autonomous (second best in the world was 8). Our linear slide used a modified car antenna system with telescoping rods and nylon cord. Vision software detected 30+ samples by color and position for autonomous pickup. As driver I only needed two buttons plus joysticks.
🏆 World Champion — Winning Alliance Captain🏆 Think Award — World Champs Ochoa Division🏆 Colorado State Champion — Winning Alliance Captain🏆 Maryland Tech Invitational — Finalist Alliance Captain🏆 Software Innovation & Quality Award🏆 Chicago Robotics Invitational Champion🏆 Golden Bean Award
World Championship awards — Houston 2025
Car antenna linear slide system
Clip mechanism — the game-breaking innovation
2023–2024: Center StageWorld Championship Finalist
Robot: Resolution
Hardware Lead · Junior Year
Four colors of hexagonal game pieces placed on a slanted board. Arranging hexagons in certain positions by color awarded bonus points.
Innovation
The start of our vision development deep dive. We created a routine that sees where hexagons have been scored and algorithmically calculates placement. The vertical linear slides flipped out at match start to clear the initial size constraint.
🏆 Gracious Professionalism Award — CO State Championship🏆 Finalist Alliance Captain — CO State Championship
Resolution — Centerstage robot design
CAD model with flip-out linear slides
Vision-driven scoring algorithm
2022–2023: Power PlayWorld Championship Finalist
Robot: Theseus
Hardware Lead · Sophomore Year
Stacking cones onto PVC poles of varying heights. Bonus points for having the top cone and capping stacks with a team element.
Innovation
All senior leadership graduated, I was the only remaining hardware member. We reused Ghost's framework for speed. Breakaway pole brace using springs and magnets. Servo-deployed curved cone-righting mechanism for tipped cones.
🏆 World Championship Finalist — Alliance Captain🏆 2nd Place Think Award — World Champs Jemison Division🏆 Inspire Award — CO State Championship🏆 Chicago Robotics Invitational Champion🏆 Golden Bean Award
Powerplay season awards
Cone-grabbing end effector
Theseus — the 2023 robot
2021–2022: Freight FrenzyWorld Champion — 1st Pick
Robot: Ghost
Rookie Team Member · Freshman Year
Wiffle balls and weighted cubes placed onto a teetering storage container. Bonus points for rubber ducks on a carousel and team element placement.
Innovation
Completely uncompromising on speed, aggressively pocketed out material from nearly every component, including our first custom turret bearing. Surgical tubing intake for instant ball and cube acquisition. Belt between wheels to glide over PVC pipes.
🏆 World Champion — 1st Pick Alliance🏆 Control Award Runner-Up — World Championship🏆 1st Place Inspire Award — CO State Championship🏆 Compass Award — CO State Championship🏆 Chicago Robotics Invitational Champion🏆 Winning Alliance Captain ×2
Ghost — the rookie year speed demon
Freight Frenzy field layout