FIRST Tech Challenge Robotics
At the age of 10, I joined a FIRST Tech. Challenge (FTC) robotics team and began my journey in robotics. I built my first drivetrain and led multiple outreach events.
I was honored to represent FIRST by helping to create a Rube Goldberg Machine featured as part of Qualcomm’s Innovation Age Initiative.
Excited to continue my journey, I co-founded my own FTC team, Mechanical Advantage, Team 16884, for the 2019 season.
Over the next 6 seasons, I became Lead Builder, Driver 1 and Captain of my team. During this time, the team earned over 20 judged awards, qualifying for and competing at the Houston World Championship where the team won the World Motivate Award for its charitable, STEM initiatives.
Among these initiatives was the creation of an after school robotics program at San Diego Cristo Rey High School, a Title 1 school. The program started in 2020 and after 3 years transformed into an independent FTC team.
National History Day
National History Day (NHD) lets me combine two things I care about deeply: storytelling through performance and amplifying voices that have been ignored or silenced. As a musical theater kid, I love the challenge of bringing history to life on stage, using movement, voice, and emotion to connect with an audience. In 2025, I competed at the National level of NHD with a performance on feminism, a topic close to my heart because of my work mentoring girls in STEM, from my hometown to Afghanistan.
Simons Summer Research Program
Having spent years building competition robots in FIRST Tech. Challenge using traditional components such as motors, batteries, and control systems, I became fascinated with the idea of self-actuating robots. I began researching biomimetics, specifically plant-based structures like those in the Venus flytrap. I wanted to see if I could build a robot that self-actuates in response to environmental stimuli. Through the Simons Summer Research Program at Stony Brook University, I connected with Professor Paolo Celli and began to work in his Dynamic Engineering Lab. I was thrilled to be selected and to have a chance to spend the summer in Long Island, NY, completing research on the use of vibration to trigger a bistable structure. My research showed that a bistable structure could be predictably snapped from one stable state to another with only vibration.
Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair
As a Lead Builder for my robotics team, I became interested in developing algorithms that could be used to produce more accurate and smooth movements in wheeled robots. I joined with my team’s Lead Programmer to design and build a robot chassis used in the experimentation process. I then helped design and complete the experiment, which showed that a Bezier Curve Projecting Algorithm was an improvement over the traditional PID algorithms used for robot control. The experiment received the AFCEA Special Award, first place in the math category at the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair, and 3rd place at the California Science and Engineering Fair.
Arya Bosworth 