These Mumbai Teenagers Just Made Indian Robotics History. Three Years Running.

Team Sigma, FRC #9692, has done something no Indian robotics team has ever managed. The students behind this extraordinary run are from your city - and they are heading to Houston next month.

Twenty-nine high school students from Mumbai have just returned from Turkey with five international robotics awards, a first-place finish at the Avrasya Regional Championship, and a record that has never been achieved by an Indian team in the history of the FIRST Robotics Competition. For the third year in a row, Team Sigma, FRC #9692, has qualified for the FRC World Championship in Houston, Texas. They leave on April 26th.

The team competes in the FIRST Robotics Competition, a programme that many in India are still discovering. Founded by American inventor Dean Kamen, FIRST challenges high school students around the world to design, build, and programme a full-scale robot in just six weeks, then compete against over 600 teams from 30 countries at a single World Championship in Houston. It is, by any measure, the most demanding robotics competition for students at this level anywhere in the world. Universities across the United States, Europe, and Australia actively scout it. And Team Sigma, mentored by RFL Academy, has been showing up and winning since their very first year.

"No Indian team has done this before. Three consecutive World Championship qualifications, and each year they come back with something bigger."

This season has been their most remarkable yet. At the Marmara Regional in Istanbul in March, they won the Engineering Inspiration Award, booking their place at the World Championship for the third time. Then came Avrasya. The team finished ranked first overall among all competing teams, scoring 99 points to top the entire field. They also won the Finalist Alliance Award for their performance on the competition floor, and Lead Coach Virendrasinh Vaghela received the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award, one of the most personal honours in the FRC programme, given to mentors who inspire through the practice of engineering rather than simply the teaching of it.

But the award that has the robotics world talking is the FIRST Impact Award. It is the highest honour in the entire competition, given not just for what a team does on the field but for what they do beyond it. Team Sigma is the first Indian team in FRC history to win it.

Engineering Inspiration, MarmaraRank 1, AvrasyaFIRST Impact Award, AvrasyaFinalist Alliance, AvrasyaWoodie Flowers Finalist, Avrasya

Their robot this season is called Bot-ti-mus Prime. It runs on a swerve-wheel drivetrain, which allows it to move in any direction without turning, and carries a precision active intake system for collecting and scoring fuel. In the opening 20 seconds of each match, it operates entirely on pre-programmed code, with no human control at all, and scores 26 fuel in that window. Over the course of a full match, it scores over 100. The students built every part of it themselves.

What earned the Impact Award, though, is what happens when the robot is not on the field. Since the team began, they have run over 150 outreach programmes across Maharashtra, set up 14 AI and Robotics labs in underprivileged and municipal schools, reached over 65,000 students through hands-on workshops, mentored 8 other FIRST teams across India, and raised over Rs 35 lakhs from Indian companies to fund it all. Maharashtra Chief Minister

Devendra Fadnavis personally congratulated the team for their contribution to STEM education across the state.

The team is mentored by RFL Academy (Robofun Lab Pvt. Ltd.), a robotics and STEM education organisation working with schools in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, and Riyadh. Their previous World Championship runs produced the Rookie All-Star Award in 2024 on their debut and the Judges' Choice Award in Houston in 2025. This year, they go back as award-winners, record-holders, and quite possibly the best-prepared Indian robotics team ever to walk into that arena.

They leave for Houston on April 26th. The World Championship runs through May 5th

Thanking you and with warm regards,

Ashwin Shah

Lead Mentor | FRC Team Sigma 9692

+91 9978918392 | ashwin@robofunlab.com | www.robofunlab.com

Encl: Appendix A - List of 29 Travelling Students

APPENDIX A

Complete List of Travelling Students - Team Sigma, FRC #9692

FRC World Championship 2026, Houston, Texas | 25 April - 5 May 2026

Total Travelling Students: 29 (Plus Coaches and Mentors from RFL Academy)