Meet AJ.
Custom six-wheel base. Compliant-roller intake. Two-stage elevator, articulated arm and a twin-flywheel launcher. Every part drawn, cut and bolted by students.
What it is made of.
120 pounds, fully dressed.
Competition configuration. Bumpers on, battery in, inspected and cleared for the field.
Elevator, arm and turret lift away.
Everything above the frame rail bolts on as one superstructure — designed so it can come off in the pit in under four minutes.
Six wheels, four NEOs, one belt run.
Motors sit inboard on the gearbox plate. Power routes out to the corners through belt-in-tube modules.
Every sub-assembly, separated.
Chassis, drive, motors, elevator, arm, turret and intake — the way the CAD model looks the night before manufacturing starts.
Drawn before it was cut.
Autodesk Fusion and Inventor. Every part toleranced against stock we actually have in the shop.
Six-wheel base
Belt-in-tube modules with centre-mounted gearboxes, a dropped middle wheel for turning, and a low battery tray.
Compliant roller stack
Staggered printed wheels on hex shaft pull game pieces off the floor. Laser-cut side plates carry the bearings; one belt run drives all three axles.
Twin-flywheel tower
Two wheels spun up by paired brushless motors, geared for RPM. Hood angle sets the arc; the driver sets the distance.
Nothing survives first contact with a match.
Bag-and-tag is gone, but the routine is not.
Load in Friday morning, pass inspection, then keep a laptop and a soldering iron within reach for two straight days. Somebody is always under the robot.
Every mount on AJ was designed so it can be reached with a robot on its side and six minutes on the clock. That constraint shaped the whole frame layout.
Twenty-one machines.
Each one named, photographed, and retired to the back wall of the shop.
The full run · 2005 → today 21 seasons
- 2026 Rebuilt — “AJ”
- 2025 Reefscape
- 2024 Crescendo
- 2023 Charged Up
- 2022 Rapid React
- 2020 Infinite Recharge
- 2019 Destination: Deep Space
- 2018 FIRST Power Up
- 2017 FIRST Steamworks
- 2016 FIRST Stronghold
- 2015 Recycle Rush
- 2014 Aerial Assist
- 2013 Ultimate Ascent
- 2012 Rebound Rumble
- 2011 Logo Motion
- 2010 Breakaway
- 2009 Lunacy
- 2008 FIRST Overdrive
- 2005 Triple Play — rookie