Let Patriots March to the Worlds!

My name is Riya Patel and I am a junior in Wayne Hills High School and a proud member of the “Patriots Robotics Team,” along with my fellow teammates Alejandro Olarte, Anisha Shin, Divyansh Ojha, Eddie Fattell, Jacob Lukowiak, Jaivir Parmar, Lorenzo Cinelli, Riya Solanky, and Rajvir Solanky. Our coed team has members from Wayne Hills and Wayne Valley High Schools, Schuyler Colfax and Anthony Wayne Middle School.

                                                ( Our team Robot "LOGIC")

The purpose of this “Go Fund Me” page is to defray the expenses for our families which will allow us to compete along with our robot named “Logic”, at the FTC World Championship in Detroit MI from April 25-28, 2018. Our young team, which started only a few years ago has had an amazing journey, and now has an incredible opportunity to compete in the most prestigious of championships against the world’s best teams. Never in our wildest dreams did we think our young team, with no corporate sponsorship which many local schools have, could make it this far and actually qualify to compete at the FTC World Championship!   By attending, our team will be the first team ever from the Township of Wayne to attend the World Championship Tournament.

(Jaivir accepting FTC Worlds invitation during regional at PA)

Our story is a story much like the story “The Little Engine That Could” by Watty Piper. Our team prevailed against all odds during last week’s super regionals held at the University of Scranton PA and earned the invitation to attend the World Championship tournament.  Our team is psyched to attend this once in a lifetime event where we will meet teams from each corner of the globe such as Japan, China, Germany, Israel and many more technologically advanced regions, but we need your help to represent our town, school and great nation of ours with our amazing robot ready to compete against our toughest competitors.


Our ten-member team has been undefeated this season for FTC (First Tech Challenge) heading to the regional in PA.  During the 3 day event, our team Robot “Logic” had a stunning performance earning a spot as a top ranking team at the event.  During this current season, our team has qualified for both New York City and New Jersey state Championship games and became champions at New York City tournament.  Our team also earned numerous prestigious awards during our current season such as:


Rockwell Collins Innovate Award 

Bringing great ideas from concept to reality. The Rockwell Collins Innovate Award is awarded to the team that thinks outside the box, and has the ingenuity and inventiveness to make their designs come to life.

 Think Award 
Removing engineering obstacles through creative thinking. This award is given to the team that best reflects the journey of the engineering design process during the build season represent by well documented engineering notebook.

Control Award 

Mastering Robot intelligence. The Control Award celebrates a team that uses sensors and software to increase the Robot’s functionality on the field. This award is given to the team that demonstrates innovative thinking in the control system to solve game challenges such as autonomous operation, improving mechanical.

Inspire Award -  Runner up

This judged award is given to the team that embodied the ‘challenge’ of the FIRST Tech Challenge program. The Team that receives this award is a strong ambassador for FIRST programs and a role model FIRST Team. The Inspire Award is an inspiration to other teams, acting with Gracious Professionalism® both on and off the playing field. The awarded team shares their experiences, enthusiasm and knowledge with other teams, sponsors, their community, and the Judges.



In addition to these awards, amazing people have recognized us. Our township Mayor Christopher Vergano, awarded us a proclamation; Senator Cory Booker, who reached out to us after seeing us in our local newspaper; and First Lady Michelle Obama congratulated us in our efforts to spread S.T.E.M., especially to girls.





Being a part of this team allows us to apply what we learn in school, such as physics and algebra. The different subjects in school help my team members and I excel in this program, as we apply concepts we learn in school to situations presented to us during our robot build and competitions.

Our mantra often said by our team members and coaches is, “Never give up, today is hard, tomorrow will be worse, but the day after tomorrow will be sunshine.”  For example, our team qualified to go to FTC World Championship last year, which was a rare opportunity for a young team. For many reasons we were not able to participate last year.   Instead of being upset,  we committed to look ahead and setup our goal with a bold plan, willing to do whatever it takes as a team, to repeat history and earn another chance qualify for the Worlds.

Lastly, with many unfortunate events recently in schools around the country, which have resulted in anger and fear for many students, we feel the same pain and fear but during these times, our robotics program has enabled us to keep balanced and motivated towards our goal.

We are committed to do whatever it takes to transport our team to the worlds, but in reality we should be working around the clock to redesign our current robot to make needed improvement to challenge the teams we will be up against, most of whom have significant funding and support. This is why we need your support. We would be grateful if you can share our campaign among your family, friends or with your colleague.  Even if you cannot contribute for any reason, you may know someone who can.

As a team, we believe “If you try hard enough along with support from others impossible tasks becomes possible.” Thank you for taking the time to read this we leave you with the following quote once said by Tony Hsieh

“Envision, create, and believe in your own universe, and the universe will form around you.”

- Riya Patel along with entire Patriots Robotics family.