26394 Mecha Minds Contact

FIRST Tech Challenge · Team 26394 · Clifton, Virginia

Mecha Minds

We are a student-run FTC robotics team from Northern Virginia, seeking to innovate, impact, and inspire.

Sponsor the team See the robot
4Student members
6Awards since 2024
3,000+People reached at one event

Who we are

Founded 2024

Mecha Minds is FTC Team 26394, based in Clifton, Virginia. The team formed in 2024 from students who had each competed on other FTC teams for at least a season, and who wanted to build something together from scratch.

FIRST Tech Challenge is a program of FIRST, the nonprofit behind FIRST LEGO League, FTC, and the FIRST Robotics Competition. The mission of FIRST is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders and innovators, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering, and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.

Students do all of the engineering. That includes the CAD, the code, the outreach, the sponsorship, and this website.

ProgramFIRST Tech Challenge
Team number26394
HomeClifton, Virginia
Arjun GanesanCaptain · Software LeadScience Olympiad, Science Bowl, Olympiads, and Research
Ishaan NandamudiMechanical LeadTennis, soccer, and video games
Rohith PeddaDesign LeadTennis and video games
Ryan HyonElectrical LeadPiano and video games

The robot

2025–26 season
CAD render of Daedalus, a black and red mecanum robot with a wide roller intake and a turret flywheel shooter, surrounded by purple DECODE artifacts

Daedalus

Built for DECODE, the 2025–26 FTC game. Designed around one principle: efficient, consistent artifact cycles.

4 × 435RPM drive motors
17sensors on the robot
46.5°calculated launch angle
5.03 m/srequired launch velocity
  • Drivetrain

    Mecanum drive on custom parallel plates, cut from aluminum by SendCutSend and pocketed to save weight without losing rigidity. The 16 × 17.5 in footprint lowers the center of gravity and gives the robot real defensive presence. Battery mounts shield the Control and Expansion Hubs. Plates are painted black and red so alliance partners can pick us out on the field.

  • Intake

    Built for "touch it, own it." A roughly 17-inch intake sits outside the frame so it can reach artifacts anywhere in front of the robot, including corners. Eight vector wheels funnel artifacts to the center, and a mix of Gecko wheels and surgical tubing pulls them in fast. Angle compliance lets the intake ride over artifacts instead of jamming.

  • Transfer

    A three-stage run of Gecko wheels with grip tape and surgical tubing moves artifacts straight from intake to outtake. Two servos finish the job: one blocks the outtake entrance until the shooter is ready, the other kicks the last artifact in to complete a clean three-artifact cycle.

  • Turret outtake

    A belt-driven turret on a custom bearing with 3D-printed mounts tracks the goal automatically, so the driver barely has to aim. Two motors spin two steel flywheels and two hogback wheels. The added inertia keeps flywheel speed up between shots. Launch angle and exit velocity were solved from projectile kinematics before the shooter was built.

  • Software

    Autonomous runs on Pedro Pathing, with Bezier-curve paths, three PID controllers, and centripetal correction. Odometry pods and an IMU feed a PIDF loop that auto-aims the turret from the robot's position on the field. Finite state machines automate the intake and outtake sequence in TeleOp, and a Logitech C270 camera reads the motif AprilTag on the obelisk.

Front view of the Daedalus drivetrain showing mecanum wheels, four drive motors, and pocketed aluminum plates
The pocketed parallel-plate drivetrain, before subsystems are mounted.

Awards

2025–26 DECODE

Washington DC Qualifier II
  • Finalist Alliance, 1st Team Selected
  • Reach Award

2024–25 Into the Deep

Moorefield Qualifier 1
  • Finalist Alliance Captain
  • Innovate Award, 2nd place
McHenry Qualifier
  • Think Award, 2nd place
Charlottesville Qualifier
  • Design Award, 2nd place

Outreach

Exposing youth to STEM and FIRST

2025–26 season

  • All season
    FIRST Global STEM CorpsAccepted into the program to mentor an international team preparing for the FIRST Global Challenge in Panama City.
  • All season
    Global Mentorship ProgramCoordinating with hundreds of teams across the globe to mentor and support up and coming teams.
  • Off-season 2025
    TJ TechstravaganzaExhibited alongside FTC and FRC teams from across Northern Virginia. Kids drove the robot while we talked with parents about getting involved in FIRST.
    3,000+ reached
  • Off-season 2025
    Nova Labs demonstrationPresented our engineering design process to the six FTC teams and one FRC team based at Nova Labs, then scrimmaged against them. Now coordinating ongoing mechanical, software, and CAD mentorship.
  • Summer 2025
    FIRST for students in IndiaIntroduced a member's young relatives in India to our robot and to FIRST. They compete in MakeX robotics, and we are mentoring them through online meetings.
  • Oct 2025
    Refugee STEM outreachTaught simple circuits and technology basics at a Muslim refugee outreach event. Also coordinating with teams nationwide to bring LEGO-based robotics lessons to students in Kenya.
  • Oct 31, 2025
    Halloween Robo-NightSet up a field at a team member's house and let trick-or-treaters drive the robot while we talked with parents about FIRST.
  • Nov 2025
    Chantilly HS scrimmage and FLL regionalCompeted and walked teams 9073 Knightrix, 18697 Monke Bang Rock, and 519 Epsilon Delta Too through our robot. FLL teams at the parallel qualifier watched our matches to see what the next level looks like.
  • All season
    Mentoring 9073 KnightrixHosted Chantilly High School's team at a meeting, demonstrated scoring, let them drive, and advised on subsystem design, autonomous pathing libraries, and strategy.

2024–25 season

  • Oct 2024
    Halloween ExpoTrick-or-treaters drove the robot around the field and through an obstacle course of cones.
    100+ kids
  • Oct 20, 2024
    Maker FaireNova Labs and City of Alexandria event. Gummy tower building and robot driving stations.
  • Oct 12, 2024
    STEM Fest at Mount Vernon High SchoolHosted by STEAMOLOGY. Programming station, engineering challenges, and robot driving.
    40+ visitors
  • Oct 4, 2024
    LifeTime Kids AcademyTower-building challenge with marshmallows and toothpicks, then time on the robot controls.
  • Sep 15, 2024
    Centreville Regional LibraryThree stations: FLL programming, hands-on engineering, and driving the FTC robot.

Sponsors

Thank you

Platinum

$1,000 and up
  • Gainesville Dental Arts

Gold

$500 – $999
  • Jabil
  • Bosch
  • DEKA Research & Development
  • Mancala Tech

Silver

$300 – $499
  • ISI Defense

Bronze

$1 – $299Your name here

In-kind support from SendCutSend, who fabricated the aluminum drivetrain plates on Daedalus.

Get in touch

Questions about the team, sponsorship, or bringing a robot to your event? Email us.

Interested in joining FIRST yourself? Visit firstinspires.org to find a team near you.