Planet of Hardware
Robotics
My high school's first VEX V5RC team, which I co-founded and programmed, from autonomous navigation in C++ to back-to-back national division finals.
At a glance
- Status
- Completed
- When
- Jul 2023 – May 2026
- Role
- Co-founder and programmer
- Built with
The story
In 2023 I co-founded my high school’s first VEX V5RC team and became its programmer.
Knowing where you are
A robot on a competition field spends the start of every match on its own, with no one to steer it. I wrote the navigation in C++: calculus-based odometry and sensor fusion to track where the robot is, motion profiling to get it somewhere smoothly, and Monte Carlo localization to correct itself when the wheels slip.
Growing a program
The one team became seven, with about 60 students and nine national appearances, and we were National Division Finalists two years running, in 2024 and 2025. Along the way we raised $11,000 through community partnerships and ran a robotics camp for more than 50 students.