San Ramon Students Headed To National Robotics Championships

SAN RAMON, CA —The Tri-Valley is fast becoming one of the world’s major sources of robotics talent. In addition to hosting the 16th annual RoboGames at the Alameda County Fairgrounds last week, seven San Ramon students were part of a team of 17 high school students from across the area who have qualified for the FIRST Robotics World Championships in Houston:

• Sahana Veldani
• Rishit Bujji
• Sidharth Anand
• Madhav Malladi
• Naisha Madugula
• Adarsh Danda
• Akash Danda

The Mechanical Magicians, a new team designed to provide hands-on STEM learning for a variety of different students, won the Rookie All-Star Award at the Monterey Bay Regional FIRST Robotics semi finals competition, thanks to a 4’4”, 124-pound robot the team created together each weekend at a nonprofit community makerspace called Robot Garden, located at the Livermore Airport hangar.

Earlier this year, the team placed third at the San Francisco Regional competition, which was their first-ever competition. In San Francisco, the team also earned the Rookie Inspiration Award.

Now, the team is fundraising to attend the FIRST World Championships in Houston, where they will compete against over 600 teams from across the globe. The team has launched a GoFundMe page to raise $13,000 to pay for registration, shipping, and attendance costs. Click on the link to donate.

The following Magicians are also headed to Houston:

• Ananya Nakka (Dublin)
• Dhruv Vootkurki (Dublin)
• Chaitanya Goli (Dublin)
• Saketh Parimi (Dublin)
• Adi Jain (Dublin)
• Andrew Chao (Pleasanton)
• Ishita Bhadra (Livermore)
• Sanjana Veeramalla (San Jose)
• Pranav Bellannagari (San Jose)
• Pooja Kanthala (Fremont)

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