Chapter 01 · Engineering
Team IK19859 · FIRST Tech Challenge · 2019 — Present

FTC
Robotics.

Six years in robotics. From Lego motors to a World Championship qualifier.
6+
Years in robotics
4
FTC seasons
3
Design awards won
2026
World Championship
Robots 527 and 19859 — Limelight vision, mecanum drive, carbon fibre
Alliance partners — mecanum drive, Limelight vision
FTC Team IK19859 at California Invitational 2025 — George kneeling bottom right
Team IK19859 — California Invitational 2025

The
Role.

Vice-Captain and Control Systems Lead on Team IK19859. I write the autonomous code — Java, PID loops, sensor fusion — that makes the robot think for itself in a 30-second window.

That means debugging at 11 PM before a match when code that worked in practice won't initialise on the competition field. The real skill isn't writing — it's rewriting under pressure.

Before FTC, I competed in WRO and FLL in 5th and 6th grade — that's where the obsession with robotics started.

"The robot doesn't know you're nervous. The code either works or it doesn't."

I also run strategy and scouting — reading opponent alliances, calling configuration changes between matches. Engineering and strategy are inseparable at this level.

Chapter Two

The Technical
Stack.

30 seconds. Zero human input. Everything below has to work in concert — or the robot's dead on the field.

Language
Java
FTC SDK on Android — state machines driving every autonomous routine.
Motion Control
PID Tuning
Proportional-Integral-Derivative loops for precise motor position and velocity control.
Localisation
Sensor Fusion
IMU + encoder odometry fused to track robot pose across the field with low drift.
Methodology
Iterative Testing
Log-driven debug cycles — every autonomous run produces telemetry, every failure produces a fix.

Scout
Select.

The stack in Chapter 2 powers the robot. I also built the intelligence layer our team uses for alliance selection — a full-stack platform used in real competition.

scoutselect.org
Developed by George Hu · Team IK19859
01 — Role Analysis
Alliance Role Detector
Captain · pick pool · bubble — live OPR-based positioning
Reads live match data and classifies every team by their current role. Captains, first picks, second picks, and bubble teams are calculated in real time using OPR thresholds — giving your alliance captain a clear picture before the clock runs out.
02 — Probability
Win Probability Engine
Monte Carlo · 2,000 iterations · Box-Muller sampling
Runs 2,000 Monte Carlo simulations per matchup, sampling score distributions via Box-Muller transform. Returns a win probability with variance bounds — not a guess, but a statistical confidence interval over real performance history.
03 — Selection
Smart Pick Optimizer
Snake-draft simulation · availability-adjusted rankings
Simulates the full snake-draft pick order across all alliances. Filters out teams already selected and surfaces the highest-impact picks available at your exact position — updated live as the selection board fills.
04 — Compatibility
Synergy & Fit Scoring
Role fingerprint · Euclidean distance · auto + teleop + endgame gaps
Builds a performance fingerprint per team across auto, teleop, and endgame. Calculates Euclidean distance between fingerprints to score complementarity — favoring picks that fill your weakest scoring phases rather than duplicate your strengths.
Next.js 15 TypeScript React 19 Tailwind CSS v4 GraphQL

Awards &
Competition
Record.

Didn't make it past qualifiers our first season. This season, we qualified for Worlds in Turkey. Four seasons of getting better.

01
FTC World Championship 2026
Turkey · July 2026 · Team IK19859 as qualifying team
Qualified
02
Control Award — California Invitational 2025
First Chinese team to reach Champion Alliance at this event
Award Won
03
Think Award — FTC Beijing Qualifier 2025–26
Recognises engineering process, portfolio, and strategic thinking
Award Won
04
Innovate Award — Lobster Cup International 2025
International invitational · awarded for mechanical innovation
Award Won
05
Champion Alliance — Chongqing Qualifier & Lobster Cup
Winning alliance in two separate 2025–26 events
Alliance Winner
06
Finalist Alliance Runner-up — China Nationals
National-level competition · highest domestic placement
Runner-up
Photo Archive

Build. Test.
Compete.

The Road Ahead

Turkey,
2026.

Turkey — Istanbul 2026

Istanbul, July 2026. Teams from every continent. Six years of work leads here.

Three design awards, two champion alliances, a China Nationals finalist run. We earned this across an entire season — not one lucky weekend.

3
Design Awards
Champion Alliance
#1
China Seed
How we qualified
  • China Nationals — Finalist Alliance Captain
  • Control Award & Design Award — dual recognition
  • Autonomous routine — 98% consistency across 12 matches
  • 6 years of continuous FTC participation — Team IK19859

Also Explore

Chapter 02 · Sport
Competitive Rowing

World #6 ranking. 6-8 hours training per week. WRICH 2026.

Explore →
Chapter 03 · Communication
BP Debate

Team Champion. Yale Global Rounds qualifier. British Parliamentary format.

Explore →
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