Team FGC 2023 consists of 5 students and comprises four boys and one girl. Three students studying in class 8th are less than 14 years old which makes the team to be the YOUNGEST. The team belongs to Team Legogoa, a parents-led community club from Goa that has been pursuing robotics for the past 6 years and has won multiple National and International awards.
Our selection as Team India led to statewide congratulations from the Honourable Chief Minister of Goa and the Goa State Assembly (House of Representatives) and we were widely reported in the media. It sparked a zeal and enthusiasm in students in the entire state of Goa.
Traditionally the bigger states and cities of India have been areas for participation in the fields of robotics. Our team belongs to a small state that lacks STEM awareness and also the facilities such as robotics labs, coaching centres and veteran teams. We would like to ensure that our participation would make us the torchbearer for smaller regions in the country to pursue competitive robotics. We have planned our outreach activities to inspire the small town students.
Team Members
Apurva: Despite being my first time participating in a robotics competition, I would like to leverage my expertise in sketching and painting and bring in my creative talents to teamwork. I am also excited to be the only girl in the team and inspire girls to pursue STEM.
Atharv: Photography is my Hobby, while I’m more passionate about Automobile design and modifications. I have been part of moonshot and tinker fests in the past. Since I am studying Mechanical Engineering, I aim to build a robot for FGC that is fit and has the least amount of time in the pit.
Saipranav: Playing with toys has been a childhood passion which graduated to building robots and competing at various robotics competitions. FGC now provides me a platform to design a robot that can compete at the International level.
Venkatesh: I have been part of multiple robotic competitions in the past and build apps. My mobile app that showcases my state of Goa allows me to express my coding and creative aspects. Documenting and outreach is what I love to do.
Viraj: Programming has been my childhood passion and I have won multiple coding competitions. My mobile app for Dementia Patients won the top national prize and gave me a chance to interact with our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. Programming, strategy and robot drive would be my focus area.
Team Mentors
Mr Saieesh Gandhi is the mentor of Team Legogoa, he has been active in mentoring teams since 2019 in various robotics competitions. His diverse experience and hands-on approach has kickstarted the competitive robotics in the state of Goa, India.
Mr. Sumesh Jaiswal is the Technical mentor for the team. A graduate from IIT Kanpur, he has been actively involved in FIRST Robotics since 2012. His technical expertise and years of experience help the team to keep on learning.
Fahad Azad: Technical Mentor of FGC India team, has been an integral part of the team since 2017. With over 15 years of experience in STEM education, Fahad has conducted workshops for 20,000 students across 200 schools and universities. He is the founder of Robowars, Full-throttle, and Drone Race contests organized at IIT Mumbai’s “Techfest.” Fahad is an Ignite fellow from Stanford Graduate School of Business and has been mentioned in the MIT TR35 list of Innovators