NRC
2 photos
2025 Sumobot
The 20 lb autonomous sumobot built for the National Robotics Challenge, with the CAD of its shell.
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A decade in photographs
Gallery
Thirty-one albums from the workshop, the competition floor, and everywhere the robots have been carried since 2015.
Every album
Browse the archive
Newest first. Each card opens the album's own page, where the photos are shown full size.
NRC
2 photos
IGVC
6 photos
2024 IGVC
Our second year at the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition in Rochester, Michigan — the chassis, the pits, and the team at work on site.
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IGVC
7 photos
2023 IGVC
Our first Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition, where the robot took a design award and the team came home Rookie of the Year.
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NRC
7 photos
2022 Spinnybot
The full-body spinning combat robot in its final build year, photographed through machining, wiring, and assembly.
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Outreach
4 photos
2021 Paint the Town
A morning downtown with Rapid City's Paint the Town, brushes instead of soldering irons for once.
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NRC
3 photos
2021 AVC Car
The self-driving car built for the National Robotics Challenge Autonomous Vehicle Competition.
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Pumpkin Chunkin
3 photos
Super Robo Time
3 photos
Outreach
5 photos
T-Shirt Cannon
The robot built to fire team t-shirts into the crowd at Mines events, from the first prototype cannon onwards.
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NRC
5 photos
2020 Competition Cancellation and Recap of Year
Spinnybot and the AVC racer, both ready for the National Robotics Challenge, in the season Covid-19 cut short.
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NRC
4 photos
Spinnybot
The mechanical, electrical, and controller prototypes behind the 3 lb full-body spinner.
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Outreach
5 photos
2020 Boy Scouts Robotics Merit Badge
A day helping a troop of Scouts work through the Robotics merit badge.
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Outreach
5 photos
2020 Engineering & Science Day
Running demos for visiting students at Mines' Engineering and Science Day.
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Outreach
7 photos
2019 FLL Tournament Volunteering
Building the field and refereeing at the regional FIRST LEGO League qualifier in Rapid City.
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Outreach
2 photos
Team
3 photos
Outreach
3 photos
Super Robo Time
10 photos
Super Robo Time 2019
Our kick-off with UAS and the 3D Print Club: weeks of building battlebots out of the same box of parts, then fighting them out in the arena.
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Pumpkin Chunkin
4 photos
2019 Pumpkin Chunkin Competition
The trebuchet and the testing area, on a cold, wet day that left us in 5th.
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Team
3 photos
Outreach
2 photos
Main Street Square Hardrocker Night
Robots out on Main Street Square for Hardrocker Night.
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ASME
7 photos
B.A.M.
B.A.M. — the Ball Acquisition Machine — from bare frame to finished robot ahead of the 2019 ASME competition.
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ASME
7 photos
ASME
4 photos
Swervebot
The differential swerve drive built as a drivetrain idea for the 2019 ASME competition.
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Pumpkin Chunkin
5 photos
2018 Pumpkin Chunkin
The trebuchet at Memorial Park and the booth downtown, from the year the team borrowed a rival's weights and took the trophy.
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Hardware
7 photos
Controller v2
The second-generation custom controller: a more ergonomic case, an integrated charger, and triggers and bumpers.
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ASME
4 photos
Soccerbots
The three robots — one shooter, two defenders — built for robot soccer at the 2018 ASME competition.
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ASME
8 photos
2018 ASME Competition
Robot soccer in Pomona, California, at the team's first ASME Student Design Competition.
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Hardware
4 photos
Controller
The first custom controller, built around an ATMEGA328P and an XBee radio so it could drive any of our robots.
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IEEE
2 photos
2016 IEEE
The IEEE Robotics competition robot, built together with the UAS team and the 3D Printing Club.
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Platforms
6 photos
SMP and Mecanumbot
The Surface Mobility Platforms and the Mecanumbot, built for learning, research, and demos.
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Beyond the photos
The stories behind them
Most of these albums have a write-up somewhere else on the site, and the newest photos never make it here first.
News
Competition results, outreach events, and newsletters — the written record that goes with these photographs.
Read the newsRobots
Every machine the team has built since 2015, with a write-up on how each one was designed and how it fared.
See the robotsFollow along
Build photos, competition trips, and whatever is on the bench this week, posted as it happens rather than at the end of the season.
See our InstagramWant to be in the next album?
Every photo on this page has somebody in it who turned up to a meeting not knowing much. No experience required — tell us what you are curious about and we will put a tool in your hand.