FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an international high school robotics competition operated by FIRST (“For Inspiration & Research of Science & Technology” - a global nonprofit based in the US) Each year, teams of high school students, coaches, and mentors work to build robots capable of competing in that year's game. This year the World Championship had participation of 600 FRC teams from around 30 countries.
The Engineering Inspiration Award won by the Team R Factor 6024 celebrates outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering within a team’s school or organization, and community. Excerpts from the script - “This team rises to the top through efforts and partnerships. Robotics is more than engineering. It’s a sport, it’s therapy, it’s a lifeline for students in rural communities. They build. They code. They train & design. This team established the sustainable practices of FIRST in their state. This team does it all! They have the STARRRRR factor.”
At the World Championship, this is the most prestigious award at the Division level & the “Orange army” especially impressed the jury with their impactful outreach by advocating for FIRST to the STEM youth of India, notably Advocacy to the Goa government to make STEM curriculum and in Automation Expo reaching out to 800 corporations , partnering with Infinity X STEM foundation and workshops in engineering Techfests - through all these they have reached a myriad audience to promote STEM and inspire all stakeholders to promote and integrate STEM to create a skilled youth.
The team is a Pan India cohort of 8 schools from Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune & Goa; comprising of 19 students from grades 8th to 12th. What sets Team R Factor 6024 apart from other Indian robotics teams is that they have built, wired and programmed the robot all by themselves, without any professional help. Under the able guidance of mentors Nilesh Shah & Parul Shah - at the Mumbai based Mind Factory, the team has worked tirelessly in their outreach efforts for FIRST & in creating this year’s robot “The Goldfish”.
The team members include Samridhi Swarup, Rinaesa Dedhia, Prapti Doshi, Ridhan Dedhia, Saksham Gupta, Rachit Jain & Arjun Vashistha from the Oberoi International School in Mumbai; Aryan Warke of PACE Junior College, Mumbai; Aditi Shah of DSB International School, Mumbai; Arjun Manmohan of Jamnabai Narsee School, Mumbai; Alisha Savant of Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune; Aarav Gupta, Arjun Kejriwal & Aryaman Kejriwal of The Cathedral & John Connon School, Mumbai; Neel Mistry of Witty International School, Mumbai; Sai Pranav Gandhi of Sharada Mandir school, Miramar, Goa; Saachi Bafna of Rajhans Vidyalaya, Mumbai; Amaatra Narayan of Singapore International School, Mumbai and Jahnavi Balaji of Global Academy at ASU Prep.
R Factor 6024 has had a very impressive & successful FRC season, winning awards in every competition it participated in. It won the “2025 Imagery Award” at the FIRST Long Island Regional & the “2025 Engineering Inspiration Award” at the Phantom Lakes Regional. The latter qualified them to participate in the World Championships.
Team 6024 prides itself on being the first FRC team in India. Since its inception it has performed exceptionally at both Regional & Championship levels - winning accolades and appreciation even from competing teams. No stranger to Championship awards, R Factor has bagged prestigious Gracious Professionalism and Runners up Impact awards in its journey of 10 years.
In fact, out of the 6 times the team has qualified for the World Championship (a tremendous feat in itself) they have won awards an impressive 4 times; with the most recent being in 2025.
The team embodies its motto of “Winning Hearts with Winning Efforts” & with this award has truly put India on the world stage in the field of Robotics.
The award ceremony can be viewed at: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3SdRRQna4fU.
