About Us

Vision

Here at Saints Robotics, our vision is to empower and inspire members of all ages in our community to become involved in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics through supportive and spirited competition.

Mission

We are Saints Robotics, Team 1899, a FIRST Robotics Competition Team based out of Interlake High School in Bellevue, Washington. We strive to engage students in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics by allowing them to work on the construction of physical robots.

Interlake Saints Robotics strives to increase efficiency in STEM education by helping students better themselves –to challenge its members and all those it affects to learn and apply STEM skills through hands-on, mentor-guided activities, and in the process, spread interest and competence in engineering to provide opportunities for everyone impacted to change the world through areas of knowledge that they are passionate about.

Core Values

• Inter-Dependence
• Creativity
• Empowerment
• Growth
• Inclusivity
• Family
• Trust

An acronym we use at Saints Robotics to remember this is I.C.E.G.I.F.T.

Internal and External Team Relations

Saints Robotics is a student-led organization, which allows students to take charge of their own learning. Our egalitarian relationship between veterans and newcomers, and members and mentors, empowers students to learn and make a difference regardless of previous experience.

We are also a member of the Bellevue Alliance, along with other FRC robotics teams in Bellevue. We aim to create an environment where we can support each other and challenge each other. Feel free to check out the Bellevue Alliance Website.

Furthermore, we practice gracious professionalism (Commonly referred to as being GP) — an important aspect of the FIRST Robotics Competition — where all teams treat each other with respect and lend a helping hand, even while in competition. Saints Robotics also takes this philosophy out of the competition and into the community, and aims to encourage all members to be involved in service and outreach projects.

Also be sure to check out our Podcast called Robotics Assemble, to learn more about Saints Robotics, our alumni, mentors, other teams, FIRST, and the professional world!

Overview

Our team’s activities center around the FIRST Robotics Competition. Every year we receive a new game from FIRST and we as a team build a robot, to compete with, for that game during competitions. FIRST also rewards teams during competition for the work they do around their communities that help spread and promote STEM. Furthermore,  FIRST reward teams for their qualities like their organization or their inclusiveness.
View our previous competition history.

As a student-led organization, we understand the importance of organization and keeping an in-depth account of all club activity. As a result, we maintain a strict record of meetings as well as finances. These are stored in a public google drive folder which is updated frequently.

Not only does the team build robots, but it also emphasizes the importance of community outreach. Every year the team organizes robotics demonstrations including ones at local elementary school STEM nights, community events and fairs, and even our own school. In addition, the team is dedicated to creating engineering focused programs for elementary schoolers and has hosted the Saints Engineering Robotics Camp, a physical camp, and the newly created Interlake Saints Online Learning Experience, a virtual camp.

Subteam Organization

In order to manage a team of over ninety students efficiently, we divide our club into five subteams: Mechanical, Control Systems, Programming, Business, and Imagery. Each of these subteams is under one of two branches: Engineering or Communications. Starting the 2020 year, a Competition Branch was added with leads of Safety, Scouting, and Drive Team for the sake of ensuring an organized approach to the competition aspect of the team.

All members can participate in any subteam of their choosing and are always encouraged to try other subteams out throughout the year. Another thing to consider is that multiple projects that we work on including social media (like our TikTok), hosting ISOLE or SERC, and helping the community. This means we have people throughout the team involved and are not necessarily doing a task single-handedly by one subteam. In essence, the member joins the team, the subteam is just a construct to help with organization.

Engineering Branch

Mechanical Subteam

Mechanical is the subteam that oversees the design through CAD, construction, and testing of the robots for the FRC competition and any off-season projects the team conducts. The purpose of the team is to teach members about the practical application of the science and math they learn in school, and to inspire them to pursue careers in STEM-related fields.

Members use Onshape, an online design tool which aids in sharing and collaborating designs at an accelerated pace. Onshape allows collaborating with ease and helps prepare for when hammer time begins. They work together to establish a strong, enduring robot to operate during FIRST competitions.

They are then in charge of putting those pieces together, as well as modifying them in order to finish the physical robot that our team will use in competition.

Join Mechanical to be quirkier than programming. we have power tools.

-Margo Abbas

Control Systems Subteam

Control Systems is the combination and unification of both the engineering and programming aspects of the robot. They focus on the power and signal delivery, cable management and most importantly RGB. Recently they have been working on developing new sensor technology and designing their very own PCBs!

Programming Subteam

Programming is the subteam that is responsible for every piece of code that goes into the robot. The team allows its members to take computer science theory that they learn in class and apply it to real world robots.

The subteam mostly focuses on Java, and has constructed its own framework in Java to better collaborate and innovate with the robot code. The programming subteam also focuses on accessibility and opportunity by providing a short crash-course in Java.

Communications Branch

Business Subteam

The Business subteam helps our club fundraise money as well as organizes community outreach opportunities for the club. Skills that can be acquired in this subteam include business and project management as well as writing and public speaking.

Our Business subteam works with large corporations and foundations to raise funds for the team. They also work in community outreach, holding events to raise awareness about the team. Additionally, this subteam writes grants to outside companies, which generates a large amount of funding for the robot and the team as a whole.

Imagery Subteam

The Imagery subteam is one of the most crucial subteams in the team. Besides using videos and photography to promote the image of Saints Robotics to the public, Imagery has the ability to work on many other projects including recruitment videos, flyers for events, binder formatting, Chairman’s video, etc. One of the biggest projects that Imagery is currently working on is the podcast (be sure to check it out!). They also work on thinking about marketing strategies with the Business team and help create the website.

Imagery uses cameras and videos to capture and post about our team, editing those images and videos to showcase the qualities of our team. Imagery also documents public outreach events, records the progress of our robot, and produces promotional material to distribute online and to our sponsors. They also capture the enthusiasm at the FIRST robotics competitions, and contribute to the overall community.

Imagery helps to keep our club on the radar, as well as provide anything image-related our club needs. This subteam helps to solidify what our team does, making sure that what happens in our team does not just stay in our team, but the hard work and labor of each subteam is documented and appreciated.

Join Imagery if you are not a nerd.

-Tamjeed Ali

Competition Branch

The Competition Branch was established during the 2020-2021 school year to ensure there was a focused attention put on the competition aspect of the team, which plays a large role for Saints Robotics as we are an FRC team. They focus on the competition logistics, awards, and other related aspects.

While there are no specific subteams in this branch, leads use help from throughout the team as Competition incorporates the entirety of what the team does.

Leads include:

• Safety Captain: focuses on ensuring the team members understand the safety protocols, creates safety procedures, and works on the safety binder

• Strategy Lead: creates a platform to take notes during competitions so that the drive team can make the right decisions, establishes a schedule to ensure all members at competition are able to assist in scouting, and analyzes the data

• Drive Team Manager: manages the drive team and prepares them for competition