Building Georgia's Future - One Robot at a Time

Students, Parents, Educators and Community Leaders Gather in Alpharetta to Inspire 

Georgia's Next Generation of Innovators

ALPHARETTA, Ga. - September 19, 2026 - Alpharetta City Hall came alive Saturday morning with robots, students, parents, educators and community leaders during “Building Georgia's Future - One Robot at a Time,” a community event by Arctrurus Robotics teams at STREM HQ Tech Academy celebrating robotics, technology education, and young innovators. Arcturus Robotics participates in First Tech Challenge Competitions at a state, national and international level. Students from team Arcturus demonstrated their robots and invited attendees to take the controls and experience robotics firsthand. Throughout the morning, students, families, educators and guests exchanged ideas in an energetic, hands-on environment.

Arcturus Student Innovators

Vikram Nadkarni, Captain of Arcturus Apollo; Advaith Shankaran, Vice Captain of Arcturus Apollo; Jahnavi Mohan, Vice Captain of Arcturus Artemis; and Kellen Bhatt, Business Director of Arcturus Artemis and spoke from their hearts about the robotics teams’ impact on their lives. Being on the Arcturus Robotics team at STREM HQ Tech Academy has taught them coding, CAD design, programming, problem-solving, welding, teamwork, public speaking, community outreach, and has supported and influenced their college and career plans. Through hard work, they’ve had the honor of competing at the state level. Arcturus Artemis competed at the FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship in Houston, Texas. Arcturus Apollo was the only team selected to represent Georgia in the inaugural Governor’s Cup. 

Learning From Failure and Thinking Bigger

U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick spoke about innovation, perseverance and problem-solving. His message to the young innovators was to not allow failure to stop your dreams. Try, learn from mistakes, improve, and try again. That message reflected the reality of robotics, where designing, testing, failing, and rebuilding are all part of learning.

Georgia State Sen. Shawn Still challenged the students to imagine how many inventions - and perhaps patents - they might create in the future. He emphasized using education and innovation not only for personal achievement, but also to contribute to the community and America's technological future.

Fulton County Board of Education President Kristin McCabe expressed enthusiasm about discovering a strong robotics program. She recognized the students' high standards and competition achievements while discussing the importance of STEM opportunities for young people and was impressed by the passion and success of our students’ in the robotics teams.

Forsyth County Board of Education Chairman Mike Valdes encouraged students to make full use of today's advanced equipment, tools and technology - and to keep challenging themselves to build even more creative machines.

Building More Than Robots

Perhaps the most memorable part of the morning was the interaction. Students explained their designs. Guests drove the robots. Young engineers stood confidently in front of community leaders and explained what they had created. Robotics teaches engineering, coding, teamwork, communication, problem-solving, resilience and confidence.