Doc VN-002 · FIRST robotics record

Robotics

Eight years in FIRST, from first builds to captaining FTC Team 26073 BeaverBots at the World Championship. Everything on this sheet is the work of a team; my hands are on the CAD, the driver station, and the whiteboard.

Sec 01 · General notes

The role

As captain and CAD lead I work across the whole lifecycle: concept development, CAD, mechanical design, fabrication, assembly, testing, driver practice, match strategy, and competition execution. The captain's other job is keeping the team engaged, motivated, and accountable, which mostly means leading by example.

I'm the team's primary competition driver, with a lot of hours behind the sticks. That seat closes the loop between design and reality: I work with our programmers on TeleOp controls, quick-key mappings, single-gamepad schemes, and a step-function control flow that turns multi-step actions into single presses. I define what the robot should do from the driver's seat; the programmers make it real.

Design and strategy feed each other. Match strategy shapes what we build, driver feedback shapes how mechanisms evolve, and I review teammates' CAD for manufacturability, structural integrity, tolerances, and serviceability before parts get made.

Sec 02 · Test data

Competition record

Season	Event	Result
2025–26	Roanoke, VA Qualifier	Inspire Award winner; Winning Alliance, first pick.
2025–26	Richmond, VA Qualifier II	Winning Alliance captain; Reach Award winner.
2025–26	Moorefield, WV Qualifier II	Inspire Award 2nd place; Finalist Alliance captain.
2025–26	Chesapeake Championship	Red Cardinal Division Winning Alliance, first pick; Championship Finalist Alliance; Connect Award 2nd place.
2025–26	FIRST World Championship	Think Award 2nd place, Franklin Division.
2024–25	Union Bridge, MD Qualifier	Control Award winner.
2024–25	Bassett, VA Qualifier	Connect Award winner; Finalist Alliance, first pick.
2024–25	Mountain, MD Qualifier	Inspire Award winner.

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Across two seasons the team has earned Inspire, Think, Control, Connect, and Reach Awards alongside its alliance results. Individually, I was named a FIRST Dean's List Regional Semifinalist in 2026, FIRST's recognition for student leadership, technical contribution, and impact.

Sec 03 · Detail views

Engineering

Detail A

CAD & mechanical design

Onshape Associate certified

Self-taught in Onshape, from basic modeling to complete competition robot assemblies, and now a certified Onshape Associate. I've designed multiple FTC drivetrain architectures, including an FRC-inspired coaxial swerve drive adapted for FTC and modular, switchable drivetrain concepts.

The working vocabulary: gear ratios, material properties, structural strength, weight optimization, compact packaging, tolerances, reliability, serviceability, and design for manufacturing. I also like reverse-engineering complex mechanisms to understand why they work before deciding what to steal and what to improve.

Role: Design & CAD · Software: team programmers CAD portfolio: full design study →

Detail B

Manufacturing & fabrication

CAD to finished part

Hands-on across CNC machining, laser cutting, 3D printing, powder coating, mechanical assembly, and robot fabrication, much of it learned through mentorship from experienced FRC teams. The point of knowing the shop is designing for it: parts that can actually be fabricated, assembled, serviced, and trusted in a match.

Workflow: CAD → CAM → fabrication → finish → field

Sec 04 · Field notes

Sustaining the team

Fundraising & sponsorship

With teammates · ~$30,000 raised

Organized and delivered sponsorship presentations to CEOs, business leaders, and community members, explaining the team's engineering work, the FIRST mission, and its community impact. The roughly $30,000 raised together funds robot components, fabrication, competition travel, and team operations.

Precision Core Fabrication

Co-founder · Fabrication venture

A small fabrication venture producing custom robot components for local FTC teams, running the full CAD, CNC machining, laser cutting, and powder coating workflow against real customer requirements. Competition engineering turned into practical manufacturing.

Sec 05 · Field notes

Growing the game

Spartan Robotics

Founder & president · 2025

Broad Run High School's robotics club, built to make robotics accessible to students with no prior experience and to create a sustainable pathway into FIRST and FTC. I teach FTC fundamentals, CAD, mechanical design, and engineering thinking.

Mentoring FTC & FLL teams

Astrobytes 30623 · Odyssey 27255 · Botzilla 31921

Ongoing technical mentoring for multiple FTC teams and, earlier, FLL teams: sharing CAD designs, drivetrain knowledge, prototyping methods, and design thinking, plus running SugoBot and FLL camps for younger students. At the Bassett qualifier, helped guide middle-school Team 20675 through strategy and competition on their way to a State Championship berth.

FIRST outreach

Local · National · International

Presented FIRST to four organizations in India in 2024, and 2025 outreach in California helped spark the creation of FTC Team Botzilla 31921. Represented FIRST at a Howard University robotics and AI event for DC-area students, run robot demos for Scout units and community groups, and am working to expand FIRST and FLL opportunities in the Dominican Republic.

SpreadRobotics Education Foundation

Founder · Nonprofit

A nonprofit focused on expanding access to robotics education and hands-on STEM learning. It formalizes years of outreach, camps, and mentoring into an organization built to outlast any single season or team.

Sec 06 · Title block

Contact

Title Velan Natarajan · Robotics record

Sheet 2 of 3

Rev A

Drawn by V. Natarajan

Location Ashburn, Virginia

Date Aug 2026

Scale NTS

Email velan@velannatarajan.com

GitHub github.com/your-username

LinkedIn in/velan-natarajan