South Brunswick Students To Participate In State Robotics Competition
SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ – A team of students from South Brunswick are gearing up to participate in a state-level robotics competition this weekend.
The team, ‘Mechanical Monsters’ includes nine students – six from South Brunswick, two from Monroe and one from Yardley, PA.
The students participated in the First Lego League (FLL) competition held on Nov. 23 at Hillsborough High School and received the Innovation Excellence award for their in-depth research on ocean exploration in the FLL Submerged Qualifier competition.
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They advanced to the State Championship, which will be held this weekend at the Mount Olive High School, in Flanders, NJ.
The team is composed of students from Crossroad South Middle School — Aarav Soni, Kavin Satheesh, Parth Katta, and Vivaan Arora. Aryamaan Bedi and Gautam Sundaram are from Crossroad North Middle School. Meanwhile, Shahana Ramesh and Kavya Ramesh are from Monroe, and Shawn Bhattacharya is from Yardley, PA.
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“Our team designed and built a robot to complete challenging missions for FLL Submerged theme this year. We worked together, did research, and talked to experts in marine science, sonar, and bioluminescence to develop creative ideas,” Katta, from Crossroads South, said.
“Through this experience, we learned how to solve problems, use creativity, and tackle real-world challenges in exploring the ocean’s mysteries.”
This is the second consecutive year the students have advanced to the State Championship,
In previous seasons, they received awards for Best Robot Design, Best Robot Performance, and Engineering Excellence in qualifier events and were runners-up in the Best Robot Performance category, competing against 80 teams.
The students are mentored by parent volunteers including head coach Prasad Bodepudi, Gurupreeth Katta, Bala Katta, and Ramesh Thiagarajan, along with youth mentor Yegna Bodepudi.
With a strong interest in Lego-based robotics, the students have been dedicating time to pursue their passion while juggling their school work.
They meet every Wednesday (two hours) and Thursday (three hours). The week before the competition, the students gather almost daily for discussions and work sessions.
The team aims to win the state championship and then participate in the World Championship to be held in Houston in April 2025.
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Beyond robotics, the ‘Mechanical Monsters’ are passionate about STEM and community service.
They recently ran a successful STEM awareness campaign at the South Brunswick National Night Out, engaging attendees and receiving 21 applications for the future team members through their website https://mechanical-monsters.com/.
This year’s FLL Challenge is themed around ocean exploration.
Participating teams have just 14 weeks to build and program an autonomous robot that can complete a series of 15 missions within a 2.5-minute timeframe.
Unlike other robotics competitions, FLL requires a comprehensive research project alongside the robot design and performance.
With only one qualifying event and a single state champion advancing to the World Championship in Houston, the stakes are high.
“The Mechanical Monsters are well-equipped to tackle this challenge and are determined to make South Brunswick proud at the State Championship,” coach Bodepudi said.
The ‘Mechanical Monsters’ will be competing against six top teams for a shot at the state championship.
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