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Who are the Millerbots?

The Millerbots at Detroit Worlds 2018

The Washburn Millerbots, now in our 13th season, were founded in 2008 by Sarah Etzel, Peter Grul, Jerrod Nelson, Mark Le Feber, and Linda Teppo. Based out of Washburn High School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, we compete as FIRST Robotics Team 2549. Over the past decade, our team has won four Regional competitions, two Imagery awards, two Safety awards, one Engineering Inspiration award, one Industrial Design Award, and gone on to compete at Nationals four times.

As Millerbots, we are more than just a sports team, we are a family. While our obvious aim as a FIRST Robotics team is to win each season, we have other goals as well. We provide our team members with experiences in real-world engineering, design, and problem-solving; we learn how to work together as a team and effectively communicate complex ideas, even through disagreement.

Washburn Millerbots (Team 2549) FIRST Robotics Competition Awards

  • Winner – 2008 Wisconsin Regional
  • Winner – 2009 Minnesota North Star Regional
  • Winner – 2011 Minnesota North Star Regional
  • Winner – 2012 Industrial Safety Award
  • Winner – 2014 Imagery Award in honor of Jack Kamen
  • Winner – 2015 Imagery Award in honor of Jack Kamen
  • Winner – 2016 Pit Safety Award
  • Winner – 2017 Best Mascot
  • Winner – 2018 Engineering Inspiration Award
  • Winner – 2019 MN North Star Regional Winner and Industrial Design Award Sponsored by General Motors

This Year’s Plan (2020)

Infinite Recharge is the FIRST Robotics Competition game for the 2020 season. It involves two alliances of three teams each, with each team controlling a robot and performing specific tasks on a field to score points. The game is sponsored by Star Wars: Force for Change and involves two alliances of three teams each competing to shoot Power Cells so they can power their Energy Generator. During the Endgame, we have to do a pull-up with the robot in order to re-energize our shields.