The 2018 FIRST Tech Challenge was titled “Relic Recovery.” It was a game where 18″x18″x18″ robots competed in a pit to stack blocks in a shelf-like structure. At the end of the game, there was an additional challenge to place a yellow plastic figurine some distance outside the pit.

I was the hardware manager for Needham High School’s team “T-10” #4096 for the 2018 challenge. That year, we made it to states and were eliminated in the final round. We got the Rockwell-Collins Innovation Award for the curved scissor lift we built to solve the end-game challenge, which we informally called the “Rainbow Lift.”

Read more about the Rainbow Lift here

Watch the robot in action here (poor video, robot on right side)