TRC
Not to be confused with Texas Robot Combat, a combat robotics organization with the same acronym.
Overview
TRC is a team of students and alumni from the Tufts Robotics Club at Tufts University, and is based out of Medford, Massachusetts. TRC has competed in five NHRL competitions to date, with the first unofficial appearance being the April 2022 competition, the first official appearance occurring at the January 2023 competition, and the latest being in April of 2025.
The name TRC was chosen because the club has never officially been granted official authorization to use the Tufts brand outside of the university. As a result, the team likes to joke that TRC is an acronym that stands for anything you can think of that is not Tufts Robotics Club. Asking different team members will yield different answers as to what they consider TRC to mean; former team member Tom Jaeger has said that TRC stands for Total Robot Chaos, while former team member Max Morningstar claims it stands for Team Roboctopi: Combat Division, in reference to his FRC team of the same name.
TRC has the dubious honor of having two robots on the list of NHRL Fastest KOs-3lb: TRC robots Deep Cut and Stress Concentration were each knocked out in just 8 seconds (by Abomination and Loopy, respectively) meaning both robots are tied for being on the losing end of the 5th fastest knockout of all time in NHRL's 3lb division.
- Team wins: 23
- Team losses: 65
Captains
- Teo Patrosio
- Tom Jaeger
- Douglas Lilly
- Max Morningstar
- Ryan McFarlane
- Daniel
- Olivia Morningstar
- David Newsom
- Natan Golding
- Zachary Almeida
- Allie Staiger
- Oliver Gels
- Ayaka Yoshii
Robots
Inactive Robots
| Robot | Image | Captain | Weight Class | Competitions | Weapon Type | Wins/Losses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| †Azrael | 
|
Teo Patrosio | Beetleweight | April 2022 | Dual Arc Lighter | 0-0 |
| ‡Shoestring | 
|
Tom Jaeger | Beetleweight | April 2022 | Drum Spinner | 0-2 |
| ⸸Utilitarian Hoar | 
|
Douglas Lilly | Beetleweight | April 2022 | Vertical Spinner | 0-2 |
| UH... foot | 
|
Douglas Lilly | Beetleweight | January, March 2023 | Vertical Spinner | 1-4 |
| Cakester | 
|
Olivia Morningstar | Beetleweight | August 2023 | Full Body Spinner | 0-2 |
| Deep Cut | 
|
*Max Morningstar | Beetleweight | January, March, May, August 2023 | Horizontal Spinner | 1-7 |
| Indubitably | 
|
Tom Jaeger | Beetleweight | January 2024 | Lifter/Grabber | 1-2 |
| Jot | 
|
Max Morningstar | Beetleweight | January, June, October 2024 | Bigwheel Horizontal Spinner | 5-5 |
| Lemon Vinaigrette | 
|
Max Morningstar | Beetleweight | September 2024 | Vertical Spinner | 3-2 |
| Almond Spicy | 
|
David Newsom | Beetleweight | April 2025 | Vertical Spinner | 1-2 |
| Hax et Lux | 
|
Natan Golding | Beetleweight | April 2025 | Horizontal Spinner | 1-2 |
| Ouroboros | 
|
Zachary Almeida | Beetleweight | April 2025 | Ring Spinner | 0-2 |
| UH... help!! | 
|
Daniel | Beetleweight | August, September 2023, May 2025 | Vertical Drum Spinner | 3-3 |
| ⹋Stress Concentration | 
|
Tom Jaeger | Beetleweight | January, March, May, September 2023, June 2024, April 2025, November 2025 | Vertical Spinner | 2-11 |
| ⹋Actual Size | 
|
Max Morningstar | Beetleweight | June, November 2025 | Vertical Spinner | 5-3 |
*Captained by Ryan McFarlane for March 2023
†Originally entered under Team Azrael, did not compete due to technical issues
‡Originally competed under Team Fingers Crossed
⸸Originally competed under Team UH huh
⹋Active robot but no longer competes with TRC. Record does not reflect post-TRC matches.
Active Robots
| Robot | Image | Captain | Weight Class | Competitions | Weapon Type | Wins/Losses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UH... oh | 
|
Douglas Lilly | Beetleweight | August, September 2023, March 2024, April 2025, April 2026 | Vertical Spinner | 0-6 |
| Fluffernutter | 
|
Allie Staiger | Beetleweight | April 2026 | Horizontal Spinner | 0-2 |
| new bot | 
|
Oliver Gels | Beetleweight | April 2026 | Vertical Spinner | 0-2 |
| Queen of Everything | 
|
Zachary Almeida | Beetleweight | April 2026 | Vertical Spinner | 0-2 |
| Fishhook | 
|
Ayaka Yoshii | Beetleweight | April 2026 XP | Vertical Spinner | 0-2 |
| UH... yard | 
|
Zachary Almeida | Hobbyweight | April 2026 | Vertical Spinner | 0-2 |
Gallery
This link is for the BrettZone footage of the April 2026 TRC rumble, featuring Fluffernutter, new bot, Queen of Everything, UH... oh, Fishhook, and TRC alumni members Actual Size and Stress Concentration.
YouTube Short in which then-TRC robot Stress Concentration can be intermittently seen.
YouTube Short in which the match between TRC robot UH... help!! against OpenHELL can be seen.
YouTube Short featuring the match between TRC robot Stress Concentration against Loopy, the experimental version of Tommy Wong's Golden Brett-winning robot Droopy, at the September 2023 NHRL event. Stress Concentration instantly melted its 3d printed weapon pulley (the plume of smoke you see in the video) and TRC driver Tom Jaeger tapped out immediately, fearing an electronics fire. Since this took place before Stress Concentration was hit by Loopy, commentators chalked up the loss to Stress Concentration getting "KO'd by booty."
Top 10 Most destructive robot fights of NHRL, with number 8 featuring TRC robot UH... foot getting demolished by David Small's Púca in January of 2023. In his post-event breakdown video, David said he was "waiting for [TRC driver Douglas Lilly] to tap out but he didn't seem to want to, so I came in and kept on hitting him." Púca would go on to win the 3lb division at the event.
Video showcasing proto-TRC robot Shoestring and its minibot, made from a Pringles can, facing off against Anthony D'Ambrosio's Blackbird at the April 2022 NHRL event. Before the fight, the Shoestring drive team asked Anthony to spare the Pringles can chassis, since they didn't have any replacements. He responded that if it got damaged beyond reuse he would UberEats them a new one.
