History and Foundation

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.

2000

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

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

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. The team called their robot’s name Snarf.

2003

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

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

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.