About
Members
Class of 2011
Chinmay Jaju
2010-11 Co-President - Yale University Class of 2015
What excites you the most about Robotics?
I joined robotics as soon as I got into high school. I always enjoyed tinkering with legos and model airplanes, and robotics is a natural extension of the things I love.What are some of the things you do in Robotics?
I love strategy in FRC games. Its interesting to look at the game each year and predict how things are going to play out. Because I don't live close to the team anymore, I try to contribute what I can online by talking to members about my ideas and working with them on organization or written work. Recently, I helped the team start becauserobots.org, a website that highlights advancements in robotics technology. My goal is to inspire students the same way I am inspired every time I watch a video or read an article about new technology.Why do you participate in Robotics?
I couldn't have asked for more out of my four years as a student, and my goal is to continue being part of FIRST as a Volunteer and mentor. I used to love the thrill of the competition, but even more, I realized that I love being around similarly minded people. Also, the opportunity to have a high functionality, really expensive and fancy "toy" robot to play with is a great incentive to do robotics.
Karena Cai
2010-11 Co-President - Princeton University Class of 2015
Karthik Viswanathan
2010-11 Vice President - Stanford University Class of 2015
Haochuan Ni
2010-11 Vice President - UCLA Class of 2015
Why did you join Robotics?
Robotics gave me an outlet for expressing my interest in science and technology. I have been fascinated by engineering accomplishments in space flight and aviation since I was a young child. I dreamed that I would be able to use my mind and head to design and build such sophisticated machines. I saw my high school's robotics team as a perfect place for me to pursue my science and engineering aspirations.What are some of the things you do in Robotics?
Robotics allowed me to engage in compelling, hands-on science and engineering assignments. From the veteran members and team coaches of the team, I learned and appreciated the ability to apply seemingly mundane classroom physics and mathematics to create a well designed machine. As I had hoped, the robotics team gave me a tremendous amount of the design and construction work that reflect the efforts that engineers put into their jobs. Beyond technical experience, the robotics team also allowed me to build interpersonal skills and lead teams to complete assignments. I was also given the task of compiling the team's activities and accomplishments in a quarterly newsletter. This gave me the privilege of promoting the team's and robotics' achievement to the community.What excites you the most about Robotics?
The simple act of being able to design and build your own machine! Robotics allows me to turn my imaginations into real-world sprockets and machined aluminum. In addition, the wealth of information relating to robotics is fascinating and humbling. There is something inspiring about understanding and applying a clever, well designed mechanism, be it mechanical, software, or electrical.
Aditya Majumdar
2010-11 Event Manager - Columbia University Class of 2015
Why did you join Robotics?
I always loved it when the team demonstrated the robot and talked about the competitions back when I was in middle school. I've always had an affinity for the STEM subjects, and knew that this organization would provide a fantastic opportunity to get directly involved with what I was interested in. The challenges, the creativity, the teamwork - no other activity would encompass all this like robotics would.What are some of the things you do in Robotics?
I mostly worked on writing grant proposals and awards essays, helping lead our scouting and strategy teams, and organizing various team events. Unfortunately, I had various conflicts during build season that kept me from being very active, so I did my best to participate in everything else that the team had to offer!What excites you the most about Robotics?
The competitions are some of the most exciting weekends you'll ever have, no doubt. It's fantastic seeing the culmination of the team's hard work in action, but it's even more amazing just to be in an arena with thousands of like-minded individuals, all of whom enjoy the activity for what it is. It's also incredible to see 50 other design solutions to the same challenge we were all given a couple months earlier. The intensity of these competitions rivals that of professional sports, but the real value comes from learning from your teammates as well as the rest of your competition. Day in and day out, participating in robotics inspired me to pursue STEM subjects even more, and led me to realize the massive influence that robots have in our lives.
Alexander Lin
2010-11 Treasurer - UCSD Class of 2015
Why did you join Robotics?
Wanted to be a part of something interesting and cool, and also that combined several areas of the real world, including engineering, business, and people.What are some of the things you do in Robotics?
Drive team coach towards end of Sr. year, grants team in Jr. year.What excites you the most about Robotics?
Robotics is the future. There are traditional robots that you may imagine to be a C3PO-like object, but there are also robots that serve as bionic augmentations for humans, and if that isn't cool I don't know what is.
Iris Wang
2010-11 Public Relations - UC Berkeley Class of 2015
Jessica Huang
2010-11 Veteran Member - UC Berkeley Class of 2015
Alexander J. Lin
2010-11 Active Member - MIT Class of 2015
Why did you join Robotics?
Robots are awesome and I expected to be working with robots shooting lasers out of their eyes while firing saw blades and acid vine pogo stick ladybugs at their enemies. Unfortunately, that was not the case, but robotics was pretty awesome regardless.What are some of the things you do in Robotics?
I didn't really do too much in robotics; I did, however, help with grants and money gathering, scout other teams, and creepily fondle the robots when I thought nobody else was looking.What excites you the most about Robotics?
The most exciting thing about robots are that they allow me to be more lazy and do less work by doing my work for me. Team 846 was disappointing in that they did not have a pass-Hanford's-AP-Lang-class robot, but I'm confident that they'll get there soon.
Zach Birnbaum
2010-11 Active Member - CMU Class of 2015
