We are the Iron Lions, FTC Team 19922. We originated as a sister team to the Monochromats 16748 in 2021. Established at Rowland Hall in Salt Lake City, this team has quickly become a prominent force in the Utah FTC robotics space. Our composition is a diverse blend of both junior and senior members, fostering an environment of collaborative learning and skill development.

The Iron Lions, circa 2022
Evan Weinstein and Omar Alsolaiman, holding an Inspire award.
The Iron Lions, circa 2022 Evan Weinstein and Omar Alsolaiman, holding an Inspire award.

As a testament to our dedication and prowess, we achieved notable success in the previous season. Our outstanding performance at the Park City Qualifier earned us the coveted Inspire Award. This accolade is a testament to our overall excellence in robot design, teamwork, and outreach efforts. The Inspire Award is one of the highest honors in FTC, recognizing a team's holistic approach to the competition and their impact on the broader community.

Our commitment to innovation and cooperation extends beyond the competition arena. The Iron Lions actively engage in outreach initiatives, sharing our passion for robotics with the local community and inspiring the next generation of STEAM enthusiasts. This commitment to community involvement not only reflects our shared values but also contributes to the broader mission of FIRST, which aims to promote science and technology education worldwide.

With a mix of experienced seniors and ambitious juniors, we are poised for continued success in future seasons. Our dedication to continuous improvement, coupled with a strong sense of camaraderie, positions us as a team to watch in the ever-evolving landscape of FTC. As we embark on new challenges and competitions, we exemplify the spirit of innovation, gracious professionalism, and excellence that defines the FIRST Tech Challenge.

Our Projects

We love other teams! Our team holds a deep appreciation for collaboration and the spirit of camaraderie within all FTC teams. In line with this ethos, we are dedicated to fostering a culture of support and knowledge-sharing among teams. To contribute to the collective growth of the community, we actively strive to make our tooling and libraries open-source and accessible to fellow enthusiasts. Here are some notable initiatives we've undertaken that we believe could be of immense value to other teams. They certaintly have to us!

Sovereign

Status: In Development

Sovereign stands as the flagship software product developed by our team, being our most pivotal piece of software, second only to the actual code that runs on our robot. Before now, there isn't anything like Sovereign that has been made available to FTC teams. Sovereign allows your robot to go where it needs to go, when and how it needs.

An example of pathfinding.

At its core, Sovereig goes beyond mere observation; it actively assists in navigating the field. When provided with a target position, calculated the safest and most optimal path, either taking control of your robot to move it to its destination or, at the very least, providing this information to you so you can execute it yourself. Sovereign is rather complex, using pathfinding algorithms, odometry, etc, demonstrating the depth of our commitment to innovation.

The complexity of Sovereign's design is a testament to the rigorous engineering standards upheld by our team. We continuously subject it to rigorous testing, ensuring it works in practice. Unit tests help too! Through this, we have a high level of confidence in Sovereign's functionality and reliability. It is this commitment to refinement and excellence that allows Sovereign to not be a hot mess.

Sovereign has reached a minimum viable product (MVP), but is nowhere near ready for primetime. Stay tuned to learn when it's ready for third-party use!

Panopticon

Status: In Development

Panopticon is a library that allows for a more comprehensive and insightful view into the behaviour of your robot. In this way, it's like Acme Robotics' FTC-Dashboard, but it offers a few more features and is a bit more performant to boot.

A photo showcasing a circular panopticonic prison.

While FTC-Dashboard by Acme Robotics is renowned for its effectiveness in presenting real-time data and key metrics, Panopticon takes this concept to the next level by introducing new types of widgets (e.g. graphs for state machines), as well as a visualization pane with a rendered version of what your robot thinks about the enviroment. It's Sovereign compatable too!

This heightened level of flexibility allows teams to delve into the deeper bits of their robot's code with a level of detail that was previously hard to achieve with those small driver station screens.

In contrast with Sovereign, Panopticon has not reached a minimum viable product (MVP), and is nowhere near ready for primetime. Stay tuned to learn when it's ready for third-party use!