Built for beginners
Most people who build competition robots had to start somewhere, and almost nobody starts knowing anything. Spartan Robotics exists so that any Broad Run student can walk in with zero experience and walk out an engineer, a builder, a driver, or all three.
No experience required
You don't need to know CAD, code, or which end of a wrench to hold. We teach everything from the first bolt: Onshape CAD, mechanical design, prototyping, and how an FTC robot actually comes together.
Learn by building
This is not a lecture club. You'll put hands on real hardware, design real parts, break things, figure out why they broke, and make them better. That loop is the whole point.
Compete for real
The goal is a Broad Run team on the field at FIRST Tech Challenge qualifiers, playing alliance matches against other schools with a robot you helped design and build.
What is FIRST Tech Challenge?
FIRST Tech Challenge is a worldwide robotics competition for students. Every September a new game is revealed, and teams get one season to design, build, program, and drive a robot that plays it, then face other schools in tournament matches.
It's more than driving: teams keep an engineering portfolio, present to judges, and earn awards for design, documentation, and community outreach alongside match wins. Colleges know exactly what FTC on a resume means.
- Robot
- Starts each match inside an 18-inch cube, then unfolds to play.
- Matches
- Two-team alliances, autonomous period first, then driver control.
- Team
- Up to 15 students. Builders, designers, programmers, strategists.
- Season
- Kickoff in September, qualifiers in winter, championships in spring.
- Awards
- Judged honors for engineering, documentation, and outreach.
The 2026–27 season
Here's the shape of the year. Join early and you're there for all of it.
Kickoff
SeptemberThe new game is revealed September 12. We break down the rules, form the team, and pick a strategy.
Build
FallCAD, prototype, fabricate, program, test, repeat. This is where new members learn fastest.
Qualifiers
WinterTournament season in the Chesapeake region: real matches, judged presentations, iteration between events.
Championships
SpringAdvance as far as the robot and the teamwork take us. Then start planning next season.
Leadership
Velan Natarajan
Founder & presidentCaptain, CAD lead, and driver of FTC Team 26073 BeaverBots, which competed at the 2026 FIRST World Championship. Certified Onshape Associate. Started Spartan Robotics in 2025 so Broad Run students would have the path into robotics he had to find on his own.
Faculty sponsor
To be announcedOur staff sponsor for the 2026–27 school year will be listed here.