Dusty boxes filled with tangled wires and circuit boards line the walls inside Palo Alto High School junior Manasvi Noronha’s garage. Amongst random screws and tools strewn across the floor sits a 700-pound fully solar-powered car made from just sheet metal, wood and spare vehicle parts, designed and built by Noronha and her team of 12 high school students.
The Miraj Sustainable Racing Club, formerly known as Palo Alto Solar Vehicles, is a nonprofit committed to creating a fully solar-powered car. Noronha initially created the club in October 2022 with her mother, Rupa Chaturvedi, to pursue her interest in engineering and explore solutions to the ongoing climate crisis.
Chaturvedi, who has a background in mechanical engineering and supervises the team during construction, has deeply influenced Noronha’s love for engineering.
“[Chaturvedi] is my biggest role model, and having something to talk about and do together is a really great experience,” Noronha said.
Fueled by her mother’s enthusiasm for the subject, engineering has been a part of Noronha’s life since childhood. Although she previously joined several local robotics teams, Noronha quickly noticed a recurrent problem: a lack of teamwork and equality.
To change this, Noronha distributes the work evenly amongst team members regardless of experience level, aiming to create a more positive and beginner-friendly robotics environment.
“Our team gives everyone an equal amount of work and is a very good learning experience for people who are interested in engineering and cars,” Noronha said.
In terms of social dynamics, Noronha observed a lack of gender diversity. With engineering being a male-dominated field, Noronha said her goal is to maximize the inclusion of women by providing them with equal opportunities on the team.
“Last year, we had a lot of difficulties with some girls on the team feeling left out because of some guys,” Noronha said. “It’s more of a social issue than a technical issue because women have the same capabilities as men, they just don’t have the same opportunities.”
Beyond improving the social culture of robotics, Noronha aims to increase high school interest in sustainability while applying robotics outside of a school setting, gaining recognition from news outlets such as CBS News and ABC7 San Fransisco along the way.
“[Miraj Sustainable Racing Club] is better than robotics because it is an actually applicable project, as opposed to making a little toy for some game,” said mechanical team member and Paly junior Alice Jambon. “It feels nice knowing what we do here makes a difference.”
In July last year, Noronha and Chaturvedi gathered 12 high schoolers from Palo Alto and Gunn High School to assemble a team for the yearly Solar Vehicle Challenge in Dallas, where students worldwide design and construct solar cars. Despite planning to participate in the cross-country trip from Dallas to Palmdale, California, the team ultimately opted out of the competition due to the car’s unreliability and excessive weight.
Still, they aim to return with an improved car design for the 2024 Solar Vehicle Challenge, where teams will drive laps around the Texas Motor Speedway.
The team’s new car design includes a lighter metal frame with a fully composite shell, a new suspension system from a mountain bike and a new steering system.
Although there’s still work to be done on the car, Noronha said she believes Miraj Sustainable Racing Club has accomplished the goal of exposing teenagers to sustainable automobile engineering. She hopes to pursue a career in sustainable engineering. In the meantime, she’ll continue making improvements to her car and preparing for this year’s competition.
“It’s important to give people exposure to [sustainable automobiles] when they are younger,” Noronha said. “Educating teens on this is how I want to prevent climate change in the future.”
Visit Miraj Sustainable Racing Club’s GoFundMe to donate.
