FTC Alpha Lab 34057

Founded in 2023, Team Alpha Lab 34057 is a student robotics team participating in the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC), an international robotics competition that challenges students to design, build, and program robots to solve complex engineering problems. The team is made up of passionate students from different backgrounds, including mechanical design, electronics, programming, and control systems. We are dedicated to pushing the limits of robotics technology while inspiring younger students to pursue STEM fields. In addition to competition, we actively contribute to education and outreach by offering training courses in CAD, mechanical design, and programming to students. We also collaborate with external organizations such as the NASA through initiatives like the Astro Camp, allowing younger participants to discover robotics, engineering, and space-related technologies in a hands-on and engaging way

One of our current projects is our 2025–2026 FTC competition robot, which is designed to compete at a high level in official FTC tournaments. Each season, teams are given a new challenge that requires building a robot capable of performing specific tasks autonomously and during driver-controlled periods. These challenges demand innovative mechanical systems, precise manufacturing, and reliable electronics. Our goal is to continuously improve our robot’s performance and compete at higher stages such as regional and provincial championships.

Looking forward, Team Alpha Lab aims to keep growing as a high-level engineering team by developing more advanced mechanisms, improving our design process, and sharing our knowledge through outreach and mentoring. We believe robotics is one of the best ways for students to gain real-world engineering experience, and we strive to create an environment of collaboration, innovation, and learning.

Project Detail

Our current project is a highly advanced competition robot for the FTC DECODE season, featuring a first-in-Quebec swerve drive system, a turreted shooter mechanism, and an integrated intake system. This robot is a full rebuild of our previous platform, redesigned to be even more performant, reliable, and competitive at higher levels of play. The swerve drive allows full omnidirectional movement with independent wheel steering, significantly improving mobility, precision, and strategic positioning on the field. The turreted shooter enables accurate targeting without requiring the robot to rotate, increasing scoring speed and consistency. These systems require complex mechanical assemblies and high-precision custom parts, making professional manufacturing services such as CNC milling and laser cutting essential to ensure performance, reliability, and repeatability.

This is our current robot:

Design Improvements Through Rebuild

Our previous robot iteration revealed several limitations that we aim to correct through this rebuild. The original design was too large and heavy, which reduced agility and overall speed. The shooting system could not reliably score from all areas of the field, limiting strategic flexibility during matches. Additionally, the intake system occasionally caused penalties during gameplay due to its size and interaction with game elements. The shooter mechanism also suffered from excessive backspin, reducing accuracy and consistency, and the overall firing rate was too slow for high-level competition. This rebuild focuses on addressing these issues by reducing weight and size, redesigning the intake for better compliance, optimizing the shooter geometry and control, and improving cycle time to enable faster and more accurate scoring.

Manufacturing and Mechanical Design

A major part of our project relies heavily on custom mechanical parts, which must be manufactured with high precision. Our robot includes multiple mechanisms that require:

• Laser-cut structural parts
• CNC-milled aluminum components
• Custom brackets, plates, and mounts
• Tight tolerances for drivetrain and motion systems
• These parts are critical for performance, reliability, and weight optimization. Unlike off-the-shelf components, our designs are fully custom and need professional-grade manufacturing to function correctly during competition.

Why PCBWay?

PCBWay is the ideal partner for our team because:

• High Quality Manufacturing – We have already ordered from PCBWay in the past, and the results were excellent. The parts were accurate, clean, and perfectly matched our CAD designs.
• Tight Tolerances – In robotics, small errors can cause big mechanical issues. PCBWay’s ability to maintain good tolerances is essential for our moving systems.
• Advanced Finishing Options – The possibility of anodization is a huge advantage for aluminum parts, improving durability, wear resistance, and overall professional appearance.
• Wide Range of Services – Having laser cutting and CNC milling in one place simplifies our workflow and allows us to iterate faster.
• Reliability and Professionalism – PCBWay provides industry-level manufacturing that is usually inaccessible to student teams.

How PCBWay’s Support Helps Us

The team would greatly benefit from the support of PCBWay. As a student team, we face strong limitations in budget, time, and access to professional manufacturing tools. Sponsorship would allow us to:

• Manufacture complex parts we cannot make in-house
• Improve robot performance and reliability
• Give more students hands-on experience with real engineering workflows
• Quick and affordable access to professional manufacturing would not only help our current robot, but also all our future projects, enabling more students to gain practical experience in CAD, mechanical design, and engineering validation.

PCBWay’s support would play a crucial role in helping Team Alpha Lab 34057 reach a higher level of engineering and competition performance. By partnering with PCBWay, we would be able to build more advanced robots, showcase professional-quality parts at competitions, and inspire other students to explore robotics and engineering.

We are excited about the opportunity to collaborate with PCBWay and represent your company through our robot!

(The picture of the CAD is not final and will be updated when finished)