In May, sophomores Virat and Vivaan Krishna Ponugoti founded 10989 Blast Robotics, a community-based robotics team under their 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Keystone STEM Alliance Inc. 10989 Blast is a FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) team that participates in competitions and provides community-based robotics opportunities.
“We wanted to create a new opportunity for people who didn’t make VEX, the school team, and (for those) who also wanted to build bots and learn more about how our robotics team functions,” sophomore and build director Lemuel Xu said.
So far, 10989 Blast Robotics has amassed more than 20 members, including high schoolers and middle schoolers from the district. Over the summer, the team hosted a week-long camp for over 10 students from fourth to ninth grade, where they were taught robotics basics and built VEX IQ bots. Participants used plastic snap together construction systems tailored for elementary and middle school students.
“We shared that (Instagram) page (about the summer camp) to the parents as a way for them to know what’s going on,” sophomore and social media manager Madeleine Lan said. “And by having that, we have more of a place in the community for people to discover us.”
The team has secured multiple sponsorships from companies around the area such as Comcast, DoD STEM, Eadeh Enterprises, Isolite and Sol Siesta. Recently, it received a $5,000 donation from Isolite.
“We scoured the general area for businesses who might be willing to help us,” Lan said. “We (also) did some phone calls to people who we thought might be interested.”
Its next step is to prepare for Ramp Riot, a local FRC run by Wissahickon School Team 341 in October. The team ultimately hopes to qualify for FIRST Championships, the international finals event for FRC, by winning an automatic advancement award, such as the Rookie All-Star Award at the District Championships, the preliminary competition.
“We get a Rookie All-Star Award if we have enough outreach, which is help in the community,” Xu said. “We have a lot of (it) right now since we started a summer camp, and we have done a lot of volunteer work around the area, like at the local fire station.”
10989 Blast Robotics currently holds official offseason meetings every Tuesday, with additional Friday sessions for members who want to catch up or spend more time working on robots. The team also organizes occasional online Saturday meetings to plan future steps.
“My favorite part about working with everyone is just being part of a team as a whole,” sophomore and camp manager Michael Park said. “I just like being part of something new and being part of something that’s very impactful on the community.”
Lexi Lin can be reached at [email protected].
