Team History

2022
    On January 8th, the challenge for the 2022 season, Rapid React was announced. The game emphasized transportation and required teams to deposit cargo in an upper and lower goal before climbing the hanger, composed of a monkey bar-like structure that would be traversed during endgame. The MinuteBots hosted their annual multi-team kickoff event to get ready to rapidly build their robot for the season!

Building ourselves back up from Covid, much of the season was spent learning as we went. The MinuteBots decided after much game analysis to create a robot that could score in the low goal and climb all levels of the hanger. This allowed their bot to function as a complementary robot reducing the air traffic of robots scoring in the upper goal.

2020-2021
    As is customary, MinuteBots hosted the St. Paul schools for Kickoff and watched the reveal of Infinite Recharge.  This game required shooting balls (“power cells”) into “power ports” in one of three locations for varying amounts of points.  There is also a “generator switch” which looks a lot like a giant clothes hanger.  Robots must hang from the switch at the end of the match and if they can balance to make it level, they get extra points.

    For our robot, Honeycomb, the Minutebots decided to try making an accurate ball shooter and a simple climber, in a low configuration that would allow us to go under a low (but protected) obstacle.  Unfortunately, our shooter never produced the accurate shots that we intended and our climber proved to be too fragile to survive match play.
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    Due to the outbreak of Covid-19, after our first competition (Week 1) the rest of the season was canceled and we never had the opportunity to improve our robot or compete again.
2019
​    We, again, hosted the St. Paul schools for a Kickoff event and watched the announcement of the new game, Destination: Deep Space. Deep space travelers must finish loading precious cargo into their rockets and cargo ships and then install hatch covers.  They must then safely return to their habitat.  Oh, and during the first 30 seconds there is a sandstorm and the drivers can’t see their robots (blocked by a screen).  Robots must either be autonomous or be driven via remote cameras.

    This year, the team decided to focus on placing hatch panels on the cargo ship and placing cargo (18” diameter balls) behind those panels.  Our robot’s name was Asimov.  We chose to use a passive intake system so the cargo would roll smoothly into our robot at a height that would also allow it to roll into the cargo ship opening.  To control the balls, we used overhead rollers that would either hold or propel the ball out.  Our hatch panel mechanism included a clever dual finger grabber actuated by a single piston that was reliable at grabbing the hatch panel and pistons rams that would drive the panel onto the cargo ship velcro.

    The MinuteBots competed at the Iowa Regional in Cedar Falls and 10,000 Lakes Regional, here in Minneapolis.  At the Iowa Regional, we ranked 26th and won a Judges Award.  At 10,000 Lakes, we were selected for the #2 alliance, and were eliminated in the Semi-finals.
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 2018
    The new game was announced on January 6th and we were on our way to FIRST PowerUp… a nod to retro video games.  In this game, the robots, “video game characters” are trapped in a video game.  They must manipulate “Power Cubes” (fabric covered milk crates) onto a Switch, a Scale, or an Exchange for “PowerUps”.  At the end of the game the robots had to climb the Switch to “meet the boss” and win!

    The MinuteBots designed and built a robot, Vertigo.  The team chose to focus on being a complementary robot by prioritizing putting Power Cubes on the Scale, and feeding Power Cubes into the exchange for PowerUps.

    The team competed at Lake Superior Regional in Duluth and Medtronic Foundation Regional (aka 10,000 Lakes) in Minneapolis.  Our combined record for both regionals was 8-14-0.  We won the Judges Award at Lake Superior and we had our student, Eva Langenbrunner, selected as Dean’s List Finalist, also at Lake Superior.  At Medtronic Foundation Regional, the MinuteBots were selected to join the number 2 alliance for the playoffs and our alliance won in the quarterfinals, but lost in the semifinals.  It was a good year!

2017
     In the 2016 to 2017 school year the Minutebots grew in membership during the pre-season, as the team worked on Fracture, a robot from the 2015 to 2016 game. It was good practice for new members of the build and programming team. Starting off the 2017 season the Minutebots held the Kick-off livestream for the 2017 game Steamworks at Central High School for other teams as well of Minutebot family members. During the six weeks of build season, the team exercised their Engineering and Design process to create Fracture. Fracture was a fast robot with four mecanum wheels to allow for omni-directional movement. The core purpose behind the design was to allow for easy and quick transportation of gears from a loading station to the Steamworks airship to score points. Fracture competed in the Week Zero event at Central High School, hosted by the Minutebots, before being bagged and tagged; ending the 2017 build-season for the team.

    The Minutebots competed firstly in the Iowa Regional, scoring into 6th place with 7 wins and 2 losses and a tie during qualifications. As one of the Alliance leaders, the Minutebots Aligned themselves with team 5638, LQPV Robotics, and team 1064, the Channel Cats. Sadly the Minutebots lost against the Second Alliance during Semifinals. Then, from April 5th to the 8th the Minutebots had their last shot at Championships participating at the 10k Lakes Regional competition. unfortunately, once again, the team had nine wins, three losses, and a tie becoming the Third Alliance, and losing during semifinals to the Second Alliance. During the season the team experienced imminence growth, received two Awards, and one member, the Build Team Captain Ellie O’Callaghan, received a Dean’s List Finalist Award at 10k lakes regional as well!

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2016
    Stronghold, the 2016 FRC game, was announced on Saturday, January 9th. The MInuteBots hosted the St. Paul robotics hub at Central to watch the kickoff live stream and start reading through the rules. During the next six weeks, the MinuteBots followed the engineering design process to build their most impressive robot yet, Whiplash. Whiplash uses 6 pneumatic wheels and trapezoidal motion profiling to power over the defenses and uses mecanum wheels to intake large dodgeballs and shoot them into the low goal. Whiplash also has an asymmetric scissors lift that allows it to hook onto the climbing bar and pull itself up at the end of the game. 

    The Minutebots were picked by the second alliance at the Iowa regional and got out in the quarterfinals. At the 10,000 Lakes regional, the MinuteBots ended qualification ranked 5th and were able to make it all the way to the finals before losing. This performance earned them a wild card spot at the International Championships in St. Louis and a Judge's award for the overall design and presentation of Whiplash. Team captain Henry O'Callaghan also won a Dean's List award at 10,00 lakes, the highest award possible for students. At championships, the MinuteBots ranked 22nd out of 60 teams in their division. 

     At the beginning of the 2016 school year, the MinuteBots attended the Minnesota Robotics Invitational in Roseville. At the end of qualifications, they were ranked 11th out of 35 teams and were picked to join 2052 and 2987 in the 1st alliance. They went on to win every single match in the playoffs and won the event.
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​ 2015
    At the beginning of the 2014 to 2015 school year, the MinuteBots gained 11 new members, bringing the total membership to 22. The team attended two game scrimmages, in which they were part of the 4th place and 3rd place alliances, respectively. They also held fundraising events at local grocery stores to raise money and help spread the word about robotics in the Twin Cities. Now, the team is hard at work building their robot for the 2015 season.

    The build season started on January 3rd, 2015. The MinuteBots along with other St. Paul teams headed to Harding High School to watch the kick-off live stream where the 2015 game, Recycle Rush, was revealed.  During the build season the MinuteBots worked hard to create their main robot, Zenith which was built to make large stacks of totes in a short amount of time. Zenith competed in the Week Zero event hosted by the MinuteBots at their high school before being bagged on the following Tuesday.  The MinuteBots' build season didn't end there. The MinuteBots then worked to create their second robot, Zipline, which was able to grab two recycling containers and hold them up in the air for Zenith to place stacks under. Zipline was completed during the six week period between the end of the build season and the beginning of the competition.

    At the 2015, 10,000 Lakes Competition, the MinuteBots were able to earn another chance to participate in the International Championship in St. Louis, Missouri.  While the competition started out poorly due to communication issues with Zenith the MinuteBots were able to turn it around. During alliance selection the MinuteBots were selected by the KnightKrawlers, team 2052. The Robocats, team 4198, were also selected by the KnightKrawlers. Together the robots were able to make it into the finals and earn a spot in the championship event. After a successful fundraising session, the team traveled to Saint Louis once again. There they were ranked 52nd in the Carver division and, although they weren't picked for eliminations, the team had a great time and learned a lot! Afterwards, on May 16th, the team traveled to Williams Arena for the second time in 2015 to compete in the Minnesota State Championships.

2014
    The next year, in 2013 to 2014, the MinuteBots' membership grew from 5 students to 15. That year, the team also gained 4 new mentors: two employees of 3M, a student at the University Of Minnesota, and a former PTC employee who is now a Vice President at US Bank. At the end of 6-week build season for the 2014 FRC game, called Aerial Assist, the MinuteBots had built their second robot, "Onyx." At the 10,000 Lakes Regional Competition, Onyx was ranked 4th out of the 63 participating teams. Because of the team's high rank, they were able to select an alliance, composed of Harding High School and Eagle Ridge Academy, to compete in the tournament portion of the competition. This alliance was able to make it to the finals of the competition, winning the MinuteBots a place at the FIRST Championship in St. Louis, Missouri.

    Because of a lack of funds, the team had to quickly raise the money needed to travel to St. Louis. Through many generous donations and the help of many parents eager to get involved, the MinuteBots eventually acquired the funds needed to make the journey. Even though the team placed only 76th out of 100 teams in the Galileo Division of the competition, it was able to provide a life changing experience to many of its members. After the World Finals, the team participated in the state competition, where they ranked 5th out of the 30 best teams in Minnesota.

2013
    The MinuteBots were founded at the beginning of the 2012 to 2013 school year, by Head Coach and Architect John Lavik and former Woodworking teacher Dan Nelson. In our rookie year, the team consisted of only 5 members. These 5 students, along with Lavik and Nelson, joined and competed in the 2013 FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) game called Ultimate Ascent. That year the team's robot, "NN," placed 38th out of 63 participating teams at the Minnesota 10,000 Lakes Regional Competition.