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As Linn-Mar’s only FTC team with team-specific mentors, a major focus for us is introducing new members to FIRST and teaching them new skills. We also make ourselves known to others who are interested in STEM but may not otherwise know about FIRST and the opportunities available near them.
2025-2026 Season
10107 competes in the Pompeii League.
We have qualified for the Iowa Championship!
Pompeii League Tournament Performance:
- Won 4 out of our 5 Qualification Matches
- 11th place (out of 27 teams)
- Captain of Alliance Seed 6, partnered with 5143 Xcentrics
- Played 4 Playoff Matches, 3 of them in the Upper Bracket (ultimately lost just before the final match though)
- 2nd Place for Think Award
- 7th team advanced to State (out of 12 teams), with 42 Advancement Points
Our late-season robot was ready in time for the league championship, and it performed well. We are continuing to improve it in preparation for the Iowa Championship, which is held in the last weekend of February. Some changes currently in progress are listed below:
- Color Tracking in the Spindexer: The addition of a color sensor and additional software in the Spindexer subsystem that tracks what color artifact is in each slot enables a host of new opportunities. The manipulator can simply say “Fire a [purple / green] artifact” instead of having to look carefully at the robot on the field and manually select the slot as they have before. It could also shoot the 3 artifacts of a motif in order in rapid succession at the press of one button.
- Homing for the Spindexer: The addition of a magnetic limit switch will let the Spindexer use a consistent startup position and calibrate its position tracking automatically.
- Odometry: We are currently building and installing 2 odometry wheels. These will connect to a goBILDA Pinpoint Odometry Computer. In combination with PedroPathing, precise position tracking and reliable autonomous movement will become a standard feature of this robot.
Our team is divided into multiple departments. Notable accomplishments of each are listed below.
Hardware (Design and Construction)
- Vertical “Spindexer”: This rotating mechanism provides 3 randomly-accessible slots for Artifacts. The robot can intake from the ground into any slot, or a human player can place an artifact into whatever slot is facing the top, and it can fire from any slot. It is driven by a servo, and its position is precisely tracked by an encoder. A color sensor allows the software to keep track of what color of Artifact is in each slot, offering possibilities for the manipulator to simply fire the color they want instead of manually selecting the slot, or even firing an entire motif automatically.
- Large Acrylic Side Plates: Clear acrylic side plates make all parts of the robot clearly visible and easily accessible. They also provide very flexible mounting options, making the addition of new sensors and actuators simple. This has already enabled rapid improvements: the color sensor went from an idea in someone’s head to mounted, programmed, and fully working over the course of a single two-hour shop session.
- Iterative Design: Our current robot is the second full robot we have built this season. As we play matches, learn about our robot’s strengths and weaknesses, and generate ideas for improvements, we both make improvements to the current robot and update our ideas for the next one. Many improvements were made to the first bot during its service, and a subset of relevant improvements carried forward to the new bot. A new bot was required to implement the vertical Spindexer. This is still an iteration, albeit a large one. Prioritizing iteration over re-invention has allowed us to improve our performance between each and every competition and ensured that we have never been stuck with a mix of broken gear and failed projects.
Software
We are aiming for the Control Award this year!
- Reliable Autonomous Movement: Autonomous OpModes will utilize PedroPathing and two dead wheels connected through a goBILDA Pinpoint Odometry Computer. A camera is also available to further refine positioning using the AprilTags placed around the field (we can get our position relative to an AprilTag). The closed-loop system will ensure that the robot gets exactly where it needs to go every time.
- Object-Oriented Programming: Java is object-oriented by nature, but the concept is more helpful when the virtual objects mirror the real ones. Thus, we have an object to represent the Robot. It contains a number of subsystem objects – Drive to represent the drivebase, LauncherWheel and LauncherGate to represent the artifact launcher, and more. Each one has a set of parameters that can be configured for each robot, so the code is fully re-usable. The correct Robot is simply selected from RobotRoundhouse and automatically configured. Each subsystem presents a simple set of intent-based commands to the OpMode. (intent-based meaning the OpMode just tells the subsystem to “Drive forward and right”, and it’s responsible for how exactly to run each drive motor.) The modularization makes the code easier to understand, and the smaller chunks can be individually tested, understood, and improved. The reusability lets us continue our work over multiple years on this extensive system.
- Control Schemes: For years, we have had customized control schemes for our different drivers, but it has always involved writing about a hundred lines of Java code. Now, a graphical editor lets the drivers design the controls themselves. The program will automatically generate the Java file from that. It also supports some advanced features that would otherwise be tedious to make. Try it for yourself!
- An updated system of control schemes also went into effect this season. A scheme creates an object for each physical button and axis, but those can be one of several types of virtual object. For example, a button can be a MomentaryButton, a TriggerButton, or a ToggleButton. TriggerButton sees a lot of use because it only registers new button presses. After the first time it is read as Active, it will not read as Active again until it is released and pressed again. These primitives are small code snippets, but they can be tested and they are re-used many times over. They also separate the configuration of controller primitives from how they are mapped to robot actions.
- Acceleration Control: When a motor changes speed or direction too quickly, it jolts quite powerfully. This throws off the robot’s trajectory while driving and wears out sensitive manipulator mechanisms. To combat this, we learned and applied kinematics to create a library that limits the acceleration of motors. It even proportionally scales all drive motors together to meet physical constraints (not being told to go faster than they physically can).
Outreach
- Recruitment: We gained 5 new members and 4 new sponsors for this season.
- Summer Camps: The primary fundraiser for Linn-Mar Robotics is held in two one-week sessions in July. Three camps are available, each serving a different age range, and in total we welcome students entering 1st through 9th grade. 10107 has run the WeDo camp for 1st through 3rd graders for several years. We thoughtfully schedule 20 hours of STEAM-focused activities such that they are both as engaging and as educational as possible. The camp gives students an exciting opportunity to learn about robotics and its real-world applications, and it introduces them to the experiences that they will find in FIRST programs in the future. For example, most of their projects are completed in groups, so they practice collaborating effectively as a team.
Campers pay tuition to attend, and camps brought in about $10,000 for the program in 2025. - STEAM Night: Linn-Mar’s Echo Hill Elementary hosts a STEAM night each April. Linn-Mar Robotics runs one of the activities, a toothpick and marshmallow building challenge. However, this only uses about half of our timeslot. During the other half, we show the kids both FTC and FRC robots, tell them about the world of FIRST, and answer their questions about Robotics.
- Homecoming Parade: Linn-Mar’s Homecoming Parade is a huge event, exceeding most city-wide Marion events and parades in attendance. Over 2,000 people each year see the Robotics float, with an FRC robot shooting balls and Robotics members catching them. Many kids on the sidelines say that they would like to join Robotics when they are older.
There’s more In Theory…
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