From the behind-the-scenes work during practices to the sounds of robots buzzing during the competition, the Boba Bots robotics team has had a historic, record-breaking year filled with numerous first time achievements and long awaited awards. This year has been a long season of grind, determination and hard work, building on their team motto, “Build robots, build people and build communiTEA!”
In their most recent competition at the San Francisco District Events from March 13 to 15, the Boba Bots made history by winning their first ever on-season competition. Winning their first competition helped them qualify for Northern California State Championships at Cow Palace in April. Along with winning the competition, they took home their first Blue Banner in team history. The Blue Banner is a banner that is given to the winning alliance of the robotics event. Not only did they bring home a Blue Banner, but the team also received the Imagery Award. The Imagery Award is awarded to the robotics team that does the most outreach, volunteering and builds a strong image in their community.
Before the team won the San Francisco District Event, they also had success early on during the offseason. The Boba Bots received their first Imagery Award of the season at CalGames in early October of 2025. Then, they won their first offseason tournament at the Capital City Classics in late October. These helped the Boba Bots set the tone for the rest of the season and helped them gain early momentum.
To come to the point where they are now was not easy. The team has faced numerous challenges and obstacles along the way that tested them, but they stayed disciplined, determined and overcame those challenges.
Aarav Siddarth (9), a first-year general electronics, strategy and design member on the Boba Bots explained, “One of the biggest challenges was when we realized that we were a lot behind on time than other teams. We had to add some extra meetings so we could catch up. We also got some issues with our intake, which picks up the game pieces. We redesigned it so it functions pretty well now and it’s really strong.”
Another problem that the team ran into this season was the limited amount of space on campus at Mills for them to practice. The ceiling inside of their room was too low and other rooms were not suitable. Boba Bots’ mentor and Mills science teacher, Anjali Abraham, described this obstacle as “trying to teach basketball in someone’s driveway.”
Drive Coach and Construction Lead Karthik Joshi (11) explained some of the challenges this year, saying, “We tried to get the library a few times, but eventually we settled on a field in Mountain View. Before spring break that week and during spring break, our drivers would take the CalTrain all the way down to Mountain View.”
Joshi continued, “Our mentor who teaches at Palo Alto High School would keep the robot with her overnight. She’d bring it to the field and we’d go there to practice from three to eight.” He added, “[We’d] come back and then the next day, repeat it again. It was definitely taxing, but it was really worth it. We found a lot of problems and we got a lot of practice.”
Another challenge that the team had to overcome was the creation of new sub-departments and new leaders for those departments. The two new departments this year are Design and Strategy.
Abraham explained, “[The Strategy [Department] watches a whole bunch of matches because the game changes every year so you have to figure out a new strategy every single year. They take a bunch of data and figure out the best way to defend, [the] most effective way for offense and [the] type of design we should try. Creating and coaching those new departments for the leads was difficult this year.”
Even though they all had experienced some challenges throughout the year, they have also grown this year and learned from their experiences in robotics.
For Abraham, the team’s success has been built off of years of hard work and growth. “We’ve been working really hard since I’ve got on the team and gradually improve our team,” she stated. “I feel like we’re starting to see all of that pay off. All of the momentum that we’ve been gaining is starting to show so we’re proud of that.”
For junior Ronan Gensel, the Awards Lead for the team, he has boosted his public speaking skills and confidence by leading the team for the first time. “I think I’ve seen my leadership abilities grow a lot. Just getting more used to leading and managing time was a big thing for me. Then, just getting more comfortable talking in front of big groups of people,” Gensel remarked.
For Siddarth, his development this year on robotics was learning more about the different components in a robot. He stated, “I’ve learned a whole lot about different electrical components, 3D modeling and strategic thinking.”
While each member on the Boba Bots has grown individually, this helped the team reach unexpected heights from being a struggling robotics team in the past to where they are now.
Robot Driver and Social Media Lead Derek Delima (10) commented, “I feel like it means we’ve been a team that has been so close to success for so long. I feel like it means that all of our efforts over the past couple of years have finally paid off and we’re really proud of that.”
Joshi emphasized, “It’s been a long time coming and we’ve had a lot of bad seasons in the past. Every year we’re working really hard and putting in a bunch of hours. People have been working for almost four years to get a robot to look like this.” He finished, “It’s really turned around for us and we’re really happy.”
