Northstar (ARC)

Northstar Advanced Robotics
Founded in 2024, Northstar engineers high-performance systems for the 1v1 and 3v3 ARC Championship formats.

Our team pushes the boundaries of competitive engineering:

Hardware and Manufacturing: We develop static and dynamic systems. We work with carbon fiber composites, custom PCBs, and integrated supercapacitors to maximize power delivery and weight efficiency.
Autonomous Systems and Control: We deploy advanced computer vision, LIDAR-based odometry, real-time object detection, and precise localization to maintain absolute field control.

Our Competition - ARC

What is
ARC Robotics?
ARC is a spinoff robotics competition of RoboMaster, a Chinese-based robotics competition. ARC is based in North America, and is made up of over 30 universities and thousands of students worldwide. Universities build fleets of robots, including 1v1, 3v3, Engineer Challange.

ARC also boasts side-competitions for the DART, and Aerial robots seen in the RoboMaster competition.

1v1 Format

This game format is where our infantry robot, a tank-like robot that shoots 17mm diameter UV projectiles, faces off against another university. This was our, and many teams, first competition format.

Engineer Challenge

The Engineer Challenge is a pick-and-place perception based competition. Universities build robots made up of a drive-train, gantry or arm.

3v3 Format

This is a capture-the-point style competition, where two universities field a fleet of three robots. The fleet is made up of a Sentry, Hero, and Infantry robots.

The Sentry robot is fully autonomous, with complex localization, odometry, firing logic, and dynamic strategy logic.
The Hero robot shoots 42mm (golf ball size) projectiles at its opponents, dealing more damage.
The Infantry robot is consistent with the one seen in the 1v1 format.

DART and Aerial Side Competitions

DART and Aerial are side competitions, and are meant as both a way for teams to show off their robots, and for teams to build them.

DART is as the name would suggest, a dart launcher, used for high-damage projectile launching from a stationairy point.

Aerial is a drone competition, where teams fly a drone-equivalent of the infantry.

Project Leadership

Tom Elliot-Drenth

Project Lead

Nathan Metko

Software Lead

Diren Gomez

Electrical Lead

Jakob Yearous

Mechanical Lead

Project Subteams

Mechanical

Designs the robot’s physical systems for mobility, durability, and interaction.

Focus Areas:

CAD modeling and design iteration
Fabrication, assembly, and integration
Weight optimization and efficiency
Precision flywheel systems optimized for fire rate and consistency

Controls

Develops the robot's software logic for autonomy, actuation, and stability.

Focus Areas

Kinematic modeling and PID tuning
Autonomous state machine logic
Sensor fusion and data integration
Low latency actuator response

Computer Vision

Processes the robot's environmental data for object tracking, spatial awareness, and localization.

Focus Areas

Classical and machine learning object detection
Absolute and relative field localization
LIDAR integration and spatial mapping
High framerate data collection

Electrical

Develops the robot's power infrastructure for signal integrity, energy distribution, and safety.

Focus Areas

Custom power and signal routing
Custom PCB design and fabrication
Supercapacitor bank development
Wiring harness and connector integration

Business & Admin

Manages the team's administrative infrastructure for financial logistics, outreach, and strategic execution.

Focus Areas

Corporate sponsorship and partnerships
ARC competition travel budgeting
Team branding and recruitment
Critical Design Review coordination

Why Join?

If you're interested in fast-paced competition and strategy, check out ARC. Northstar builds for a competition where performance and decision making, play a large role in success. You'll receive experience in:

Iterating around game strategy and objectives
Mechanical and electrical systems built for speed and reliability
Computer vision and controls

What we do

Analyzing game rules and strategy
Designing robots for maximum scoring potential
Integrating mechanical, electrical, and control systems
Developing driver controls and system responsiveness
Testing and refining performance through practice matches
Iterating designs based on gameplay

Ready to Join?

No experience is required, we'll teach you what you need to know. New members start by joining a subteam, learning the basics, and contributing to ongoing builds.

Come to a meeting, talk to a lead, or join our communication channels to get started.