Welcome to the Itkan Rangers

FTC Robotics Team #28922

Empowering innovation and inspiring the next generation of problem-solvers.

See Our Mission

Team Info & Highlights

Get a quick look at who we are, what we've accomplished, and how we operate.

🏆 Key Achievements

  • 🥇 **Internal Champions:** Two-time winners of the **Itkan Internal Scrimmage**.
  • 🗺️ **Official Competition:** Successfully participated in the **FIT-North Last Call Qualifier** event in 2025.
  • 🥇 In the 2026 Fit-North U-League AM meet 3 Itkan Rangers won first place

🛠️ Team Structure

  • 🗓️ **Commitment:** We meet and collaborate **12 hours weekly** in-person during the main season.
  • 🧩 **Sub-Teams:** We operate through focused sub-teams: **CAD/Build**, **Marketing**, and **Programming**.

Our Mission: Innovation & Inspiration

"Through hands-on robotics and collaborative learning, ITKAN Rangers ignites curiosity and transforms dreamers into bold problem-solvers. We open doors to innovation, fuel the passion for building, and cultivate the next generation of leaders who change the world—one robot, one idea, one breakthrough at a time."

FIRST Core Values in Action

💡

Discovery

We explore new ideas and skills, constantly learning from our challenges and successes.

✨

Innovation

We use **Creative Thinking** and persistence to solve complex robotics and outreach problems.

🌎

Impact

We apply our knowledge to improve our team, community, and the world.

🤝

Inclusion

We respect and embrace the differences in our team and community, knowing that everyone's unique perspective is valuable.

⚙️

Teamwork

We are stronger together, supporting each other with **Gracious Professionalism** and collaboration.

🥳

Fun

We celebrate our journey and enjoy the process of building, programming, and competing!

What's FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC)?

FIRST® Tech Challenge students work together with their mentors to design and build dynamic robots to compete in an exciting game released every September. On and off the field, students develop STEM skills, engage in community outreach, practice engineering innovation, and build confidence to help them succeed.

👥 Global Reach

**6,000+**

Teams competing annually worldwide across **20+ countries**.

💡 STEM Impact

**87%**

FTC Alumni pursue degrees in **Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math**.

📚 Scholarships

**$80 Million+**

In available college scholarships from colleges and universities exclusively for FIRST participants.

Beyond the Robot: Gracious Professionalism

FTC emphasizes **Gracious Professionalism**, a core value meaning competitors should treat each other with respect, even during fierce competition. It's about high-quality work, recognizing others' value, and acting with kindness. This philosophy shapes not just the team, but the students' future careers.

Learn More at FIRSTInspires

DECODE: 2025-2026 Season

This season, the DECODE challenge tasks us with navigating a complex field where precision & speed are the keys to victory.

💾

The Challenge

Teams must collect artifacts(game elements) from the field and shoot them into their goal from either the far zone or close zone teams. A motiff made up of 3 artifiacts is randomly selected and indicated on the obelisk. For every artifact scored a team will gain 3 points or 1 point if the ramp overflows.

⚡

Autonomous

The autonomous period is the 30 second before the 2 minute teleop period in where the robot moves autonomously teams gain 3 point if the robot leaves the starting line in this period. In the autonomous period artifacts are placed in 3 columns & 3 rows.

🛡️

End-Game:

The last 20 second of the teleop period is the endgame, 5 points are awarded to robots partionally in their base, 10 points are awarded to robots fully in their base & if both robots fit within their base additional 10 point are given .

FTC DECODE Season Logo
Official DECODE Game Reveal

Outreach & Media

Robotics isn't just about the machine; it's about sharing our passion and engaging with the community.

Our Efforts So Far:

YouTube Channel

We document our build progress, coding challenges, and team journey. Subscribe to see our latest innovations!

Visit Our Channel

Community Bake Sale

Through our recent showcase at allen masjid attended by over 2500 visitors, we achieved far more than building Robots. We brought the world of robotics to life, inspiring countless young minds, many of whom had never heard of it before. In doing so, we also introduced Itkan Robotics for the very first time. Beyond the technological outreach, our incredible bake sale served over 2,500 people, generating over $1,000 for their mission. Every student demonstrated exceptional gracious professionalism, representing “First” and “Itkan” with pride, clarity, and purpose. We the Itkan Rangers proved that with passion, teamwork, and professionalism, young people can make an immediate, powerful impact on their community and inspire the next generation of innovators!

Itkan Rangers bake sale setup at Allen Masjid

CAD & Build: The Engineering Process

We utilize Onshape CAD software to design, simulate, and refine every component of our robot, following a rigorous engineering cycle.

CAD Software rendering of the robot
1

Find the Problem

We defined the problem as maximizing fast, repeatable scoring and keeping the robot practical to maintain. We targeted consistency first, so every design decision would support reliable cycles—not just “one good match.”

2

Brainstorming

We compared multiple concepts for simplicity and robustness. We captured our early lessons learned to ensure our final solution shows a clear engineering journey from concept to reality.

3

Create a Plan

We organized our robot into four core systems—drivetrain, intake, transfer, and outtake—so each subsystem had clear requirements and ownership. We planned for efficiency and repeatability by choosing a scoring pipeline built around controlled transfer timing and consistent shot trajectory.

4

Design & Build

We built our V2 around reliability: stronger metal supports and a layout that’s easier to service. Key mechanisms like full-width intake, transfer blockers, and hooded shooters were implemented for max cycle speed.

5

Test

We tested in match-like conditions to find weaknesses in V1 (wobble, low ramp capacity). We used these results as evidence for our next decisions, documenting exactly what changed and why.

6

Improve

We upgraded to a sturdier build and improved scoring capacity based on feedback. We also integrated advanced control tools like Limelight alignment and odometry for a more repeatable robot.

Our Robot

A deep dive into the engineering and technology behind our latest iteration.

Itkan Rangers Robot

Drivetrain

Our wheels are Swyft Drives, selected for incredible speed and durability on the field. They are small and easy to attach to our robot with minimal assembly beforehand.

Scoring Hood

Our hood uses a circular-shaped design to score the balls accurately and this angle has proven to work almost 100% of the time, as we have reiterated this hood many times before.

Vision System

In our V2 robot, we utilized the Limelight camera to detect the AprilTag and auto-align itself towards it. We also use this camera to detect the color of the balls.

Vision System

In our V2 Robot We have also attached odometry pods for utilizing pedro pathing in our autonomous period to optimize our scoring to the max

Programming: Bringing the Robot to Life

Our robot's intelligence comes from our code, written in **Java** using the **FTC SDK**. We focus on creating reliable, efficient, and sophisticated programs for both the Autonomous and TeleOp periods.

Autonomous

We use techniques like computer vision (e.g., TensorFlow Lite) and advanced path planning to ensure the robot can execute complex tasks without human input. In our autonomous routine, we utilize odometry pods and limelight in our pathing and they have been a great help to us as they have made our paths much easier to program and are far more accurate than any other tool on the market as of right now.

Limelight Vision

High tech camera that allows our robot to auto-align towards the April-Tags located on the Goal.Increases accuracy greatly and eliminates the need to guess the artifact’s trajectory.Efficient, as minimal time is lost in the action of aligning the robot.

Odometry Pods

Hardware component supplied by Swyft Robotics that allows the robot to move in efficient Beizer curves when coded. Results in faster movement on the field and allows for agility while ensuring the driver still has control of the robot.

Contact Us

Have questions, want to sponsor us, or just want to say hello? We'd love to hear from you!

Email: **[email protected]**

Send Us an Email!