WE ARE THE ROBO PHANTOMS

First Tech Challenge Team 23954

Building the future of robotics since 2022, entering our fourth FTC season.

🐝 BIOBUZZ™ Presented by RTX — 2026–2027 Season
2026-2027 Season Kickoff

BIOBUZZ™ Reveal Countdown

The official 2026–2027 challenge reveals on September 12, 2026. Follow our pre-season R&D!

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Our Mission

Goal

Our goal is to turn curiosity into capability, building competitive robots while developing the skills, mindset, and teamwork needed to solve real engineering challenges.

Innovation

We continuously learn, innovate, and improve our designs, embracing challenges as opportunities to grow and excel in the field of robotics.

Community

We believe in giving back to our community through outreach programs, inspiring the next generation of engineers, programmers, and innovators.

Team at a Glance

9
Team Members
2
Coaches
4
Seasons in FTC
Passion

Our Team

Engineer * Innovate * Dominate

Dhruv Shah
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Dhruv Shah

Team Captain (Drive Team)

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Hello, my name is Dhruv Shah. I am 15 years old and attend William B Travis High School in 9th grade. I enjoy learning new things about technology and exploring innovative engineering designs. I always enjoyed robotics and participated in opportunities at my school. My hobbies include football, tennis, and music. I have learned so much through FTC and am thrilled to be part of our team.

Harsh Desai
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Harsh Desai

Vice Captain (Drive Team) | Hardware Lead

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Hello, my name is Harsh Desai. I am 15 years old and go to Stephen F Austin High School in the 9th grade. Some hobbies I have are playing tennis and designing mechanical devices. I have always had a passion for robotics since I always thought it was cool to build robots and compete against other teams. Building while collaborating with your team is an amazing process. I also enjoy navigating design challenges and making our robot better with each iteration.

Kavin Sankaran
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Kavin Sankaran

Programming Lead

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Hello, my name is Kavin Sankaran. I am 15 years old and go to William B Travis High School in 9th grade. Some hobbies that I enjoy doing are playing soccer and coding autonomous navigation algorithms. Having to build, code, and design brings immense challenges, but creating high-precision robotic software makes it an incredible experience.

Kayan Patel
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Kayan Patel

Design/CAD Co-Lead

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Hi, my name is Kayan Patel, and I am a 15-year-old sophomore at Stephen F. Austin High School. I am a Life rank Boy Scout working toward my Eagle Scout rank. This is my third year in FIRST Tech Challenge, currently serving as Head Designer. Through FTC, I have gained hands-on engineering experience, strengthened CAD modeling skills, and learned the power of teamwork while designing our competition robots.

Aarvi Thota
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Aarvi Thota

Programming | Mentorship Lead

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Hi, my name is Aarvi Thota. I'm 12 years old and in 7th grade at Sartartia Middle School. My hobbies include violin, volleyball, biking, reading, and digital design on Canva. In the past, I competed in Destination Imagination and Science Fair. I am active in Girls Who Code and love sharing STEM enthusiasm across our community.

Sanjana Ganglani
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Sanjana Ganglani

Outreach Lead

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Hello, my name is Sanjana Ganglani. I'm 12 years old and in 7th grade at Sartartia Middle School. My hobbies include playing viola, volleyball, and reading. In previous years, my Destination Imagination team ranked top 10 at Global Finals. I'm eager to continue expanding our outreach, coding, and engineering through FTC.

Kushaal Reddy

Design/CAD Co-Lead

Aarav Mehta

Build | CAD

Om Patel

Build | CAD

Our Coaches

Guiding and mentoring our team to success

Technical Paresh Desai
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Mr. Paresh Desai

Engineering & Technical Coach

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Mentoring students in custom mechanical fabrication, CNC machining, drivetrain physics, and strategic engineering design throughout each FIRST Tech Challenge season.

Operations Tejas Mehta
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Mr. Tejas Mehta

Outreach & Operations Coach

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Leading our community outreach strategy, sponsor partnerships, tournament logistics, and fostering leadership skills across the entire team.

Meet the Robot

2026-2027
🐝
In Development

Coming Up

Season 4 BIOBUZZ™ Robot

Reveal: September 2026

Season 4 Robot

BIOBUZZ™

FIRST CANOPY™ Season

Key Features:
  • High-throughput 3" Pollen intake mechanism
  • Biomimetic high-reach scoring lift
  • AprilTag & vision navigation pipeline
Season Focus:

Optimized for rapid cycle times on Pollen scoring elements and robust autonomous routines.

Robot Evolution

See how our robots have evolved across all the previous seasons of competition

2025-2026
2025-2026 Robot

Season 3 Robot

Competition Chassis

Key Features:
  • Improved mechanism design
  • Enhanced autonomous capabilities
  • Optimized for competition strategy
Improvements:

Building on lessons learned from previous seasons, this robot advanced our custom machining and software capabilities.

2024-2025
2024-2025 Season 2 Robot

Season 2 Robot

Into The Deep

Key Features:
  • Submerged submersible intake and lift
  • Better reliability and consistency
  • Improved programming and color sensors
Lessons Learned:

This season taught us the importance of robust design and strategic alliance selection.

2023-2024
2023-2024 Season 1 Robot

Season 1 Robot

CenterStage

Key Features:
  • Our first competition robot
  • Foundation for future designs
  • Learning the fundamentals
Foundation:

This robot marked the beginning of our FTC journey and established our design philosophy.