About The Cat Attack

FIRST Team 451, The Cat Attack, is a high school robotics team, consisting of students primarily from Sylvania Northview and Southview High Schools, but also students from other high schools in the Toledo area, including Toledo School for the Arts, Springfield High School, Ottawa Hills High School, and others. We are an extra-curricular team sponsored by the DANA Holding Corporation and more. During the summer and pre-season, we build robots and work on other projects to improve our skills for the main build season. Our build season is our six-week period during which we build a robot for the FIRST Robotics Competition. After building a robot to complete the given task, the team usually competes in two regional competitions. Being on the team is a unique experience, and building a robot as a team teaches vital skills, which can be used outside the science and technology fields. These include working with a team, thinking critically, and using learned information to produce a working robot.

Our Goals

To encourage the creativity of our team
To infuse enthusiasm, excitement and team bonding by working on technological challenges together
To build confidence, develop communication skills, and learn how rewarding a career in engineering and technology can be
To encourage every student to become proficient in some area of engineering and develop leadership amongst our youth who will be the science and engineering leaders of tomorrow

Mission Statement

The Cat Attack’s mission is to experience the fun, excitement, and hard work of using math, science, technology and teamwork to accomplish goals—forming a partnership between students and engineers in the process. Excellence can be attained if you:

“Care more than others think is wise
Risk more than others think is safe
Dream more than others think is practical
Expect more than others think is possible”

— Anonymous

History and Foundation

2000 Season

The Cat Attack was originally founded as the Northview I-Questers in 1999 at Northview High School in Sylvania, Ohio. A small group of students approached the school’s new chemistry teacher, Andy Roth, and told him about a robot competition they had recently found out about. The students wanted to form a school team that would compete in the FIRST Robotics Competition, and asked Mr. Roth if he would agree to be their mentor.

The new team of students were able to get a generous donation from Sylvania Schools in order to pay the entry fee for the FIRST Great Lakes Regional in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Meanwhile, Mr. Roth got permission to use an empty chemistry lab at the University of Toledo where the team could construct their robot. Using nothing more than tools obtained from team member’s garages, the I-Questers built their first robot, which they named Mo-Bot in honor of the team’s founding student.

2001 Season

The I-Questers obtained major corporate sponsorship from the Toledo-based Dana Corporation. The team worked out of Dana’s Spicer Driveshaft division using many new resources that Dana was able to offer to them including a machine shop and employees who volunteered as engineering mentors.

2002 Season

The I-Questers opened their team to include members from Sylvania Southview High School. With the addition of new team members from their sister school, the team voted to change their name to The Cat Attack. Thanks to the generosity of Dana, this was the first year the team could afford to attend two regional competitions.

2003 Season

The Cat Attack made their first ever appearance in the elimination rounds of a regional FIRST competition. Their robot, “Project Mayhem”, placed fourth in the qualifying rounds at the first annual FIRST Pittsburgh Regional. They were eliminated in the quarter finals after their robot battery fell out just seconds into the match.

2004 Season

At the 2004 FIRST Great Lakes Regional, The Cat Attack won its first judge’s award with their robot, “Philbot”. The “General Motors Industrial Design Award” was presented to The Cat Attack for Philbot’s incredibly simple, yet effective design.

2005 Season

The Cat Attack made its first trip to the FIRST National Competition in Atlanta, Georgia. The team’s robot, “Craze Eye”, finished 13th in the 80 team Archimedes division.