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- Builder & Roboticist
Building from the ground up
I’ve been building since I was six. It started with a Ferris wheel in Mussoorie — I came home fascinated and built a working Lego replica of it, and somewhere in that process I learned about balance, torque, and centripetal force without realising I was learning anything at all.
At eight I built a water hovercraft using the Archimedes principle. At nine, a water gun for Holi that taught me about valves and pressure. At eleven, a voice-controlled light bulb. Each one was just a thing I wanted to exist, and each one left me knowing more physics than the last.
That’s still how it works. I don’t start with a concept — I start with something that annoys me, or something that shouldn’t be as hard as it is for someone else.
- Builder & Roboticist
Building from the ground up
I’ve been building since I was six. It started with a Ferris wheel in Mussoorie — I came home fascinated and built a working Lego replica of it, and somewhere in that process I learned about balance, torque, and centripetal force without realising I was learning anything at all.
At eight I built a water hovercraft using the Archimedes principle. At nine, a water gun for Holi that taught me about valves and pressure. At eleven, a voice-controlled light bulb. Each one was just a thing I wanted to exist, and each one left me knowing more physics than the last.
That’s still how it works. I don’t start with a concept — I start with something that annoys me, or something that shouldn’t be as hard as it is for someone else.
A timeline
- Age 6 — Today
- Age 6 — Today
Built a working Lego Ferris wheel and never really stopped.
- Junior FLL to FRC
Progressed through every level of global robotics leagues.
- IIT Mumbai
Competed in national robotics competitions.
- 2020–21
Led design and build for my school team as one of its youngest members — we won the Rookie Game Changer Award internationally.
- 2022
FIRST Dean’s List Finalist — one of only two students in India recognised at the national level.
- Today
Two patents filed, Team India at Regeneron ISEF, and competing with my club across India and abroad.
- Mentorship
Sonam Wangchuk holds over 400 patents — one of only five Indians with that many — and inspired the lead character in 3 Idiots. He invited me to Ladakh for a month to automate systems at the new SECMOL building.
I built three things there: insulating curtains that open at sunrise and close at sunset, a passive-heating indicator that tells students exactly when to open their windows, and a greenhouse ventilation controller that protects plants above 26°C.
Living there taught me something the projects didn’t. SECMOL is full of students who had been written off by the education system and arrived having given up on themselves — and watching them rebuild their confidence was more instructive than any device I assembled. He’s since invited me back for a longer stint at HIAL.
- Mentorship
Sonam Wangchuk holds over 400 patents — one of only five Indians with that many — and inspired the lead character in 3 Idiots. He invited me to Ladakh for a month to automate systems at the new SECMOL building.
I built three things there: insulating curtains that open at sunrise and close at sunset, a passive-heating indicator that tells students exactly when to open their windows, and a greenhouse ventilation controller that protects plants above 26°C.
Living there taught me something the projects didn’t. SECMOL is full of students who had been written off by the education system and arrived having given up on themselves — and watching them rebuild their confidence was more instructive than any device I assembled. He’s since invited me back for a longer stint at HIAL.
How I work
01
Start With the Person
Before we finalised the blind stick, we took it to a blind school and asked the students what actually scared them.
02
Build It Myself
Ideation, fabrication, and code — I do all three hands-on. CAD, 3D printing, laser and plasma cutting.
03
Ship It, Don't Shelve It
The sticks went to the students who tested them. The E-Rickshaw is on the road earning its driver a living.
04
Fix What the First Version Missed
HOPE’s trials exposed gaps in safety and feedback so the next version got a force sensor and a companion app.
The harder part
I was diagnosed with dysgraphia in third grade, and borderline dyslexia later. Writing has never come easily, and mathematics was hard enough that avoiding it entirely would have been the sensible choice.
I took it up in grade 11 anyway. Not out of stubbornness — I just didn’t want a diagnosis deciding what I was allowed to be interested in. It took extra help, alternative methods, and a lot of patience from teachers who were willing to find a different route to the same understanding.
It’s the reason I build the way I do. When you’ve spent years figuring out how to work around your own limitations, designing around someone else’s becomes an instinct rather than an exercise.
