Our Team

We are a 7-person FTC team in Foster City, California with an intense passion for robotics. Our team is fully student-run, meaning that the members handle the design and building aspects of the robot as well as the finances and logistics. We believe that being student-driven allows us to have more control of our team and pushes us to work for our goals.

We value simplicity and iterative design as our core design principles, aiming to have a well-tested robot before every competition.

Zara Louie-Der

Zara is a sophomore at San Mateo high school, and this is her third year with Vulcan Robotics. In this season, Zara plans to lead the team to success as captain. Zara hopes to impart knowledge she’s gained from her previous years on this team to new and returning members. Apart from robotics, Zara enjoys crocheting, hanging out with friends, gaming, and swimming. She looks forward to a successful season!

Dan Ngyuen

Dan Nguyen is a sophomore at San Mateo Highschool and this is his second year on the team! Outside of metal and bolts, he loves learning guitar, studying physics, watching and playing soccer, and white rice (specifically the Viet Three Ladies White Rice you get at Ranch 99). He also loves a variety of music artists like otuka, joon, and ILLIT.

Alexa Li

Alexa is a sophomore at San Mateo High, returning to Vulcan for her second year. Aside from Doordashing boba during meetings, she works mostly on outreach, contacting organizations, companies, and arranging volunteer opportunities. She hopes to learn more about CAD and contribute to the mechanical subteam. In her free time she likes to eat Trader Joe’s chicken shawarma bowls, pet stray cats, and argue with her dog.

Jacob Melamud

Jacob is a sophomore at San Mateo High School and is new to the team. He has some experience in robotics, but very little and plans to work primarily in the mechanical subteam, willing to give suggestions and help others at the same time. He hopes to learn a lot from the team and gain new experiences for the future. During his free time, he likes playing games and learning about indie games, all of a similar genre and art style. He is always ready to help and hopes for an interesting year with the team.

Moon Zou

Moon is an 8th grader at Bowditch Middle School, and this is her first year with Vulcan. She has little experience in robotics aside from some basic coding and 3d modeling, so the opportunity to work with this team has been exciting. She hopes to gain experience and knowledge in all areas. Primarily, she would like to work in the CAD and mechanics teams, as she has always wanted to explore those. Outside of Vulcan, she spends her time trying different art materials, playing video games, practicing music, volunteering, and in theatre productions.

Itamar Mendelevich

Itamar is a sophomore at San Mateo High School and this is his first year on the team. He has some experience in robotics, but will primarily be focusing his efforts on the coding for the robot, as he has much more coding experience. He also hopes to contribute to the building of the robot by gaining more robotics experience this year. In his free time, Itamar learns to code, plays video games, and spends time with his little sister.

Emily Cheng

Emily is a sophomore at San Mateo High School and this is her first year on Vulcan. Before joining, she participated in another robotics competition for five years, mostly focusing on programming and building. This year, Emily hopes to get better at both, and plans to work mainly on coding at Vulcan as well. Outside of robotics, she likes to listen to music, play soccer, hangout with friends, and read.

Christina Li

Christina was on Vulcan for 3 years; they were the CAD Lead in 23/24 and a co-captain in their final year. They currently attend Harvey Mudd College pursuing a joint CS and Math degree. In their free time, they like jamming on electric guitar with their new college friends, sketching with fountain pens, and listening to progressive metal and digital hardcore.

Leia Pei

During Leia’s time on Vulcan, she was the outreach & CAD lead (22-23) and co-captain (23-24). She is an alumni of Hillsdale High School and currently attends Princeton University studying engineering. In her free time, she likes to read books from authors like Kurt Vonnegut, do fun gel nail designs on herself and her clients, and take walks while listening to music from her favorites Nina Simone, Jeff Buckley, and Solange.

Eric Zhang

Eric was on Vulcan for two years and is an alumni of San Mateo High School. During his time on Vulcan, he was a contributing member of the mechanical subteam and was always eager to learn more programming. In his free time, Eric enjoys swimming and water polo, and also going on campouts to scenic State parks.

Andrew Qin

Andrew Qin was on Vulcan for two years and was business/outreach lead in his last year. He is currently studying physics at UC Berkely. Outside of robotics, he enjoys a good old game of soccer, listening to music, weight training and learning physics.

Soham Patil

During Soham’s three years on Vulcan, he was the programming lead for two years and co-captain in his last. He currently attends UCLA and is studying the mathematics of computation. In his free time, Soham enjoys learning about AI, playing volleyball, listening to music, and stepping out of his comfort zone.

Caroline Wei

Caroline was on Vulcan for 4 years and was business lead in her last year. She currently attends UCLA and is majoring in applied mathematics. During her free time, Caroline enjoys playing the violin, badminton, baking, and volunteering with the Red Cross.

Seth San Miguel

Seth is currently studying design and interaction at UCSD. During his last year at Vulcan, he worked in the electrical and mechanical teams. Seth enjoys tutoring kids at Mathnasium, conducting cognitive science research, hanging out with friends and family, playing volleyball, eating, and listening to music.

Mathew Zheng

Mathew is currently studying computer science and robotics at the University of Michigan. During his fourth and final year on Vulcan, he took on the positions of Co-Captain and Electrical Lead, and contributed as a core member of the programming team. In his free time, Mathew enjoys playing volleyball, performing music with his friends, and learning new things.

Harry Wang

Harry is currently at Duke University studying Neroscience. He was the Co-Captain and mechanical lead for the 2022-2023 PowerPlay season. In his free time, Harry swims, plays water polo, and does triathlons. He’s come to enjoy listening to jazz on his car rides and while doing work.

Rohil Kalra

Rohil currently attends UCLA majoring in computer science and is an alumni of San Mateo High School. During his time on Vulcan, he enjoyed working with the new members to train them on mechanical principles and especially machines like the band saw. In his free time, he loves playing Varsity tennis and watching professional matches.

Eddy Rao

Eddy is currently studying mechanical engineering at UCSB and is an alumni of San Mateo High School. During his final year on Vulcan (21-22 Freight Frenzy), he led the sponsorship team and was also apart of the mechanical team. In his free time, Eddy likes playing water polo, listening to angsty 2000s rock, and leatherworking.

Michael Tun Zan

With 6 years of FLL experience, Michael is a skilled mechanic with efficiency in mind. During his last year on the team as co-captain (21-22 Freight Frenzy), he was incredibly dedicated to nurturing a positive environment of teamwork and focused heavily on execution. He currently attends the Colorado School of Mines and is an alumni of Aragon High School. Not only does he love jamming out on guitar and bass, he also teaches ukulele lessons and competes in local rock climbing competitions.

Nico Paoli

Nico was on the team for four years, leading the programming subteam and co-captaining in their final year (21-22 Freight Frenzy). They are currently attending Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. On the team, they were committed to creating a fun and productive environment where they inspired many to pursue their passions in robotics, STEM, and computer science. Their experience with robotics helped the team create new teams and mentorship opportunities in programs like FLL. Outside of robotics, Nico enjoys playing ukulele in their school’s Jazz Ensemble and taking on DIY projects.

Anna Guo

Anna was on Vulcan for three years and was co-captain in her senior year. She worked extensively on mechanical, engineering notebook, outreach, and finances. Outside of robotics, she enjoys giving back to the community and organizing events to promote STEM education. She’ll miss Vulcan’s tight-knit community, but is excited for her next chapter at UCLA. She also promised to come visit us whenever she is in town and to get us all UCLA hoodies.

Leon Kwuak

Leon was on Vulcan for 4 years. In his last year, he was co-captain and worked on mechanical aspects of the robot as well as trying to balance things on hex keys and was part of the team’s drive team during competitions. His kendama collection could end world hunger. Boston University is a lucky school to get to have this dude’s soft hands on campus.

Jason Wang

Jason was on Vulcan Robotics for 2 years, and was team captain his last year. Jason contributed heavily to the engineering aspects of the robot, and is taking his leadership skills to Berkeley in 2019.

Pranav Viswanathan

Pranav was on Vulcan for 3 years, and was co-captain during his senior year on the team. He led the team in scouting and business, and worked extensively on the engineering notebook. He also contributed to the mechanical aspects of our robot.

Max Li

Max was in charge of CADing custom parts for the robot during his last year on Vulcan. Max helped the team overcome many engineering challenges through iterative design.

Alton Olson

Alton had 2 years of experience in FRC and 3 in FTC. In 2014, he switched to FTC only and helped start Vulcan. He was extremely passionate about robotics and always wishes for our success to continue!

Anna Zheng

Anna was on Vulcan Robotics for two years. She helped build and test the past robots and worked extensively on the engineering notebook, sponsorships, organization and logistics.

Frank Liu

Frank was on Vulcan for 2 years and enjoys traveling, music, and research. He was the electrical and scouting lead for Vulcan during his 4th year.

Horace He

Horace had experience in competitive programming, competing in contests such as USACO Gold and Stanford ProCo. 2014 was his first on a robotics team, and he was our main programmer for the season. He loved to write, test, and debug the robot’s code each year.

Josh Pollock

In his first year on a robotics team, Josh designed the electrical system on the robot and helped with organization and logistics.

Justin Lee

Former FLL, FTC, and FRC team member, Justin transferred from another robotics team to help start Vulcan last season. Justin was heavily involved in all the moving parts of the robot.

Kiki Lo

Kiki was on Vulcan for 2 years. She was the engineering notebook and sponsorships lead during her 4th year. Outside of robotics, she enjoys swimming and volunteering.

Louis Villa

Louis, one of the team’s founding members, had completed two years of FLL and two years of FRC. In his junior year summer, he interned with a mechanical engineer in the 3D printing industry.

Prateek Tenkale

Prateek was on Vulcan for 3 years and was the captain and mechanical lead of the team during his third year. Prior to Vulcan, he was on an FLL team and was a mentor of a team that participated in the World Robot Olympiad (WRO) Elementary School competition.

Sahith Bhamidipati

Sahith was on Vulcan for 2 years. He had previous experience programming for FIRST robotics, and was the programmer during his second year. His hobbies are computer science, robotics, tennis, and music.

Sethmi Kachchakaduge

Sethmi was with the team for two years. Sethmi was dedicated to exposing young women to the art of computer science and has had a passion for STEM at a young age. She facilitated a Girls Who Code club in her city and is a mentor and liasion for Stanford’s Girls Teaching Girls to Code Program. She mainly contributed to the design and finance aspects of the team.

Timon Littleford

Timon has competed with Vulcan for two years and was the captain his second year on the team. In addition, Timon has also competed in FRC and FLL on numerous teams.

About Us