Community-Based AstroBruins Robotics Team Competes in FTC World Championship

The AstroBruins, which operates out of a Sunnyvale garage, were one of several Bay Area teams that competed at the national robotics competition.

Wearing powder blue sweatshirts and silly matching blue ears atop their heads and shiny, royal blue capes, the AstroBruins, a community-based robotics team working out of a family garage in Sunnyvale, looked more like they were ready for Halloween than the 2025 FTC World Championship for robotics in Houston, Texas, April 16-19.

Kooky team wear aside, the eclectic and tech-minded team of 13 local students ages 13 to 17 took top honors at the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) NorCal Regional Tournament in Newark on Feb. 23. Winning the top place “Inspire” award was its ticket to the 2025 FTC World Championship, where it competed with other elite student teams from 66 countries.

In Houston, the AstroBruins earned the 3rd Place Motivate Award and celebrated teammate Serena Gandhi as FIRST Tech Challenge Dean’s List Award Winner 2025, recognizing her outstanding student leadership in FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology).

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“The path from winning 1st place Inspire in Northern California to competing internationally showed us that consistent preparation and teamwork can achieve remarkable results,” said AstroBruins lead coach Srin Kumar, the parent whose garage is team homebase.

“The experience reinforced that robotics competition is about more than just robots. It’s about building skills, character, and lasting friendships with teams from around the world,” Kumar continued.

The 2025 tournament was team #19819’s third shot at the FTC World Championship. It also qualified in 2019 and 2024.

Sunnyvale resident Jeevan Navudu mentors the team, which he helped found in 2018. He returned home to the Bay Area after graduating with a degree in computer engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne.

“I want to pass on knowledge and watch kids grow. It’s a continuous cycle of training and mentoring,” said Navudu. “Older students mentor the younger ones. Team graduates mentor the seniors.”

Using a hybrid approach and specialization, students form five sub-teams, each focusing on a different aspect of the robotic project or challenge: robot build (hardware), robot design, software code writing, outreach and finance.

They do independent work online, then meet up in the garage for hands-on building and testing—with minimal parental involvement, other than supplying pizza. They manufacture some parts on two 3D printers in the garage.

“The way we run our team, it’s more like fun when everyone comes together to do homework and work on robots. We form a close bond; it’s like a family. We don’t even realize that the time passes,” said Navudu.

Coach Kumar, an engineer—and the father of Navudu, said that they transitioned to a community-based model to support a broader range of students than a school-based team. Interested students apply and go through an interview process.

This season, the team is comprised of students from San Jose, Monticello, Cabrillo and Bellarmine schools and nine from the 49ers’ STEM Leadership Institute (SLI) at Santa Clara High School.

“We’re in a constant cycle of learning and growth—everyone teaches, everyone learns, and that’s how everyone shines,” said AstroBruins’ co-captain Serena Gandhi, a Santa Clara High School junior.

Financial support is a challenge.

“As a community-based team, we don’t have built-in support—every part we use, every competition fee, and every travel expense must be funded through our own efforts,” said Kumar.

“This challenge has pushed us to become more resourceful and entrepreneurial, gaining real-world experience in business development and community outreach.”

Funding comes from multiple sources—partnerships with businesses, tech companies that value the team’s STEM mission, the City of Santa Clara and fundraising events like the Santa Clara Art & Wine Festival.

“What makes this program successful is the incredible network of parents, mentors and educators who all contribute,” said Kumar. “These kids get such strong foundations from their schools, and we have many community volunteers who bring different expertise to help the team succeed.”

AstroBruins’ co-captain Saharsh Navudu, Kumar’s younger son, upholds the family and team tradition of robotics as life training.

“FIRST taught us that failure isn’t the opposite of success—it’s part of it. Now we see problems as puzzles waiting to be solved,” said Saharsh Navudu, a Santa Clara High School freshman.