This season the Saints Robotics team participated in the 2012–2013 FRC season, again traveling to both the Seattle and Spokane Regionals, as well as the FRC World Championships in St. Louis. At Seattle, the team made eliminations, but lost in the quarterfinals, whereas in Spokane the team ended up as finalists, receiving an invitation to Championships through the wild card system. At Championships, the team didn’t make eliminations, but maintained a 4-4 record. The team also won the Entrepreneurship Award at Seattle, given to the team with the best business plan for future sustainability, and the Motorola Quality Award in Spokane, given to the team that best exemplifies a quality FIRST team. The 2013 year was one of our best seasons yet, finishing 4th seed in Seattle and 5th seed in Spokane. Our fast and agile robot put up quite the competition at the regional competitions we attended.
This year’s overhaul of design and build for the entire robot greatly revolutionized the way we construct robots. Instead of a conventional metal chassis, the team elected to expand the usage of laser cut wood, testing out and implementing various wooden solutions. As a result, the completely wood chassis turned many heads at all 3 competitions we went to, attracting a lot of attention at the Championships.