2025 - 2026 Season: Push Back
This season, I formed a new team, 38535K, with a former teammate to take on larger roles and learn new skills before college. Though we started off inexperienced, we quickly improved in both building and teamwork. Balancing robotics with college applications and cross country was challenging, but we made steady progress by meeting during lunch and weekends. So far, we’ve ranked high in our first two tournaments and earned our first judged award — the Judge’s Award — for our documentation and interview performance. We plan to rebuild and refine our robot as we continue toward state qualification.
Forming Titan McQueen
After two seasons on 38535A, my teammate and I decided to start a new team, 38535K (Titan McQueen), named after our school’s Titan mascot and our shared love for Cars. We wanted a bigger role and the chance to learn new skills before heading to college. Though we started the season with less experience building independently, we quickly improved our design and build speed through weekend work sessions and lunchtime builds. Balancing robotics with cross country and college applications was challenging, but our dedication paid off. In just two tournaments, we placed well and earned our first team award — the Judge’s Award — for strong performance, documentation, and interviews.
Robot Development
We started the season by learning how to build a solid drivetrain — the foundation of any good robot. After testing several options, we settled on a 6-motor drivetrain, which gives us a strong balance of speed and torque that we plan to keep for future iterations. Once the drivetrain was complete, we moved on to the intake and scoring mechanisms. Our current design features a large box in the back that’s great for hoarding balls and playing defense, but we’ve noticed it slows down our scoring efficiency. As we prepare for our next rebuild, we plan to redesign the intake and scoring system to make the robot faster and more precise while keeping its defensive advantages.
Programming and Control
This season, I built our robot’s codebase in PROS, applying what I’ve learned from past years while experimenting with new strategies. I started by setting up basic driver controls and later added autonomous routines using PID control for smoother and more consistent movements. I’ve also begun integrating sensors to improve accuracy and plan to implement odom-based movement later in the season.
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To streamline collaboration, I set up our GitHub repository, where my teammates and I can track code versions and test changes without overwriting each other’s work. Unfortunately, I am unable to share the repository here because I need to keep it private for the ongoing season. Our goal this year is to develop a reliable autonomous routine that performs consistently in matches — something we can refine as our robot design evolves.
Competition Highlights
So far, Titan McQueen (38535K) has competed in two tournaments this season. Despite being a new team, we’ve consistently ranked high in qualifications and demonstrated strong teamwork and adaptability. At our second event, we earned our first-ever award — the Judges Award — recognizing our performance, detailed engineering notebook, and clear communication during interviews.
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While we haven’t yet qualified for the State Championship, these early results have shown how much we’ve grown in a short time. Balancing robotics with college applications and cross country has been challenging, but our commitment to improving has paid off. Each event has given us valuable insight into our robot’s strengths and weaknesses, setting us up for a strong rebuild and a more competitive second half of the season.