


Robots Through the Years
2022
This year, FIRST teams will address today’s global challenges related to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #9, focused on building resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and fostering innovation. In RAPID REACT, presented by The Boeing Company, teams must use innovative engineering, creative thinking, and teamwork to reimagine the future of safe, high-speed travel, and lightning-fast deliveries to propel the next evolution of transportation forward – in this world and beyond.  
-From FIRST Website

2021
at HOME
To keep students engaged in FIRST activities in a safe manner during the pandemic, teams had the opportunity to compete in three separate FIRST activities: FIRST's Infinite Recharge at Home, Game Design Challenge, and Innovation Challenge. Infinite Recharge at Home consisted of obstacle courses, timed events, and accuracy skills that teams would complete with their robot. The Game Design Challenge encouraged teams to use their creativity to create a possible future FIRST game. Lastly, the Innovation Challenge asked teams to find and solve a problem related to the year's theme.

2020
Three alliances work to protect FIRST City from approaching asteroids caused by a distant space skirmish. Each Alliance, along with their trusty droids, race to collect and score Power Cells in order to energize their Shield Generator for maximum protection. Near the end of the match, droids race to their Rendezvous Point to get their Shield Generator operational in order to protect the city!
-From FIRST Website
Decennium Falcon

2019
In DESTINATION: DEEP SPACE, Presented By The Boeing Company, we join two competing ALLIANCES collecting samples on Planet Primus. Unpredictable terrain and weather patterns make remote ROBOT operation essential to their mission on the planet. With only 2:30 until liftoff, the ALLIANCES must gather as many CARGO pods as possible and prepare their spaceships before the next SANDSTORM arrives.
-From FIRST Website
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Intrepid

2018
Teams are trapped in an 8-bit video game. Each three-team alliance has three ways to help defeat the boss: Tipping the scale or the alliance’s switch in their favor to earn points, exchanging power cubes for power ups (force, boost, and levitate) to gain a temporary advantage during the match, and climbing the scale tower to face the boss. Who will defeat the boss?
-From FIRST Website
Tau-er

2017
Robots collect fuel (balls) and score it in their boiler via high and low efficiency goals. Boilers turn fuel into steam pressure which is stored in the steam tank on their airship. Robots deliver gears to pilots on their airship for installation. Robots must latch onto their airship before launch by ascending their ropes to signal that they're ready for takeoff.
-From FIRST Website
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Unite Your Crew. Ready Your Contraption. Prepare to take flight!
Dopplesteamer

2016
Sir Cumference laid siege to the competition field in the 2016 game "FIRST Stronghold." The game required the robot to storm defenses, launch boulders into the castle, and to scale the castle wall to claim it for the alliance. Sir Cumference ended up
leading Team 156 to the quarterfinals at the 2016 Greater Pittsburgh Regional, and to the semifinals at the 2016 Buckeye Regional in Ohio. The robot's larger tires paired with an adjustable appendage to take out others' defenses with ease. The tires had the ability to go over rough terrain, while the appendage could open doors, raise portcullises, and lower drawbridges. In the end, this ultimately lead to the team's success.
Sir Cumference

2015
"RECYCLE RUSH is a recycling-themed game played by two Alliances of three robots each. Robots score points by stacking totes on scoring platforms, capping those stacks with recycling containers, and properly disposing of pool noodles, representing litter. In keeping with the recycling theme of the game, all game pieces used are reusable or recyclable by teams in their home locations or by FIRST at the end of the season."
-from FIRST website
Gravity Shifter

2014
The LOB-ster, as its name may en-TAIL, was a vital part of RPM's 2014 FRC season. Team 156 built The LOB-ster based on FIRST's "Aerial Assist" challenge. The "Aerial Assist," similar to past challenges, is played by two competing alliances of three Robots each on a flat 25’ x 54’ ft. field. A lighting truss is suspended just over 5 ft. above the floor. The objective is to score as many goals as possible during a 2 minute and 30 second match in collaboration with the two other robots on your team. It is essential for teams to work together in order to fish-up as many points as they can.
The LOB-ster

2013
Presenting Ultimate Mayhem! This is our 2012-2013 season robot for the "Ultimate Ascent" competition. The game required robots to shoot Frisbees at goals to score. The higher the goal, the more points earned for that team’s alliance. During the last thirty or so seconds, the robots were allowed to hang on three-leveled pyramids to score even more points. Our robot only hung from the bottom level, but we could shoot precisely while hanging. Joining the other robots on the website is... Ultimate Mayhem.
Ultimate Mayhem

2012
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a µ Thing? Meet the 2011-2012 season robot! It’s a µ Thing competed in "Rebound Rumble," a basketball game for robots. The design of this robot consists of a “conveyor belt” shooting mechanism, a tank-like body, and tires with metal rings on them for turning. µ is the coefficient of friction. It’s a µ Thing is built so tank-like that the wall dented before the delicate robot.
It’s a µ Thing

2011
Pure Mayhem is the first robot FIRST Team 156 RPM built. It performed very well at the Finger Lakes Regional and Buckeye Regional in the 2010-2011 season. We brought home from the Finger Lakes Competition the General Motors Industrial Design Award. This award celebrates form and function in an efficiently designed machine that effectively achieves the game challenge. It features a simplistic claw mechanism that is operated with ease as well as an extremely light weight frame.
Pure Mayhem
