Good day, Teams and Volunteers,
We hope your spring and summer are fun and you are pursuing great things safely. If you are competing in an upcoming off season or Premier Event, then best of luck. More on these results later in another email blast
Welcome to the first email blast for the upcoming PA FIRST Tech Challenge Season. Please liberally and broadly share this email with your parents, students, friends, co-workers and acquaintances in and outside of the FIRST robotics community.
If you missed any of our 23 season blasts from the 2025-2026 season, please go to our Communications page to reference Announcements and Archive Emails for this and all past seasons.
https://www.ftcpenn.org/communications
Welcome back to the FIRST Tech Challenge program and competitions and specifically FTC as administered by Pennsylvania FIRST Robotics, your Program Delivery Organization. As you may be aware, the 2026-2027 FIRST® Robotics season is themed FIRST® CANOPY™ and focuses on biodiversity and nature-inspired problem-solving. Starting with the kickoff on September 12, 2026, FIRST Tech Challenge teams will amplify the excitement and energy found within the natural world during a new challenge, BIOBUZZ™ presented by RTX. More about the season:
https://www.firstinspires.org/first-canopy
IRST has sent out two blogs of importance that will get you and your team started and excited for the next season.
In a blog posted today, June 17th, FIRST® Tech Challenge teams and individuals can join the program for the 2026-2027 season and can log in to a refreshed FIRST® Dashboard experience using last season login credentials or, for rookie teams, create a new account. The significance of the refreshed Dashboard experience is that it brings many improvements to team management and youth registration as well as the ability to update financial guarantor information ahead of the new FIRST Storefront opening (due mid-July). Blog post:
Key Changes to FIRST Tech Challenge Registration
You may go in at any time and register your teams for the new season, however starting this season, all FIRST Tech Challenge teams registering through the FIRST Dashboard will purchase their season registration and materials through a brand new, one-stop shopping experience on the FIRST Storefront. No more secondary purchase or registration through Pitsco (yay!). Also, if you have multiple teams under your registration and admin you can order for all teams at the same time without having to select each individual team as separate entities.
If your team previously had PITSCO set up as a vendor with your school/organization, please take this time to add FIRST as a payor before the Storefront opens. Teams will no longer be directed to the FIRST Tech Challenge PITSCO Storefront.
As stated, the Store Front will not open until mid-July but at least for now you can experience the changes and if you’re a returning FIRST Tech Challenge team, you can update your intent to participate in the BIOBUZZ season now on the updated individual team profile. Also, for guidance please go to the following page for new season registration information. Note that registering your FTC team with FIRST is $350 this season due to rising costs, unfortunately like everywhere else.
https://www.firstinspires.org/programs/cost-and-registration
Please refer to the Blog link above for more information:
From a Blog dated May 3rd, 2026 – If you did not pay attention yet as you were still consumed with or winding down from last season NOW IS THE TIME!
Game Preview 2027: StarterBots, Skill Builders, Field Elements and More!
We are excited to share a preview of the upcoming 2026-2027 FIRST® Tech Challenge Game, BIOBUZZ™ presented by RTX. BIOBUZZ is part of the FIRST® CANOPY™ season. For the details in the bullets provided below please follow this Blog link.
https://community.firstinspires.org/game-preview-field-elements
Specifically, the FTC group is providing information to help teams explore some foundational aspects of the new game and get a head start helping each other prepare for the new season. Such as:
- The Scoring Element (Pollen) is already available for purchase through AndyMark
https://andymark.com/products/ftc-2026-27-preorders
- A preview of Robot Tasks
- StarterBot Base robots as available from FIRST 4 vendors. Please check them out to start or augment your new bot utilizing your preferred vendor.
– AndyMark
– goBILDA
– REV Robotics
– Studica
- FIRST Tech Challenge Skill Builders – To further support teams as they explore these foundational aspects of BIOBUZZ, thanks to FIRST Education there is a newly launched series of activities hosted on FIRST Training, including FIRST Tech Challenge Skill Builders. This content is designed to guide teams as they experiment with the new pollen scoring element and learn about the robot challenges unveiled in this Game Preview. These Skill Builders include learning content, challenges, and fun robot mini-games that are directly applicable to BIOBUZZ and the upcoming season. Teams can build driving skills, refine intake systems, and tackle autonomous challenges to level up their learning!
- AndyMark Pre-Orders Open – AndyMark game sets will be available for purchase through the AndyMark website. Game sets will not ship until September 14, 2026. Go to:
https://andymark.com/products/ftc-2026-27-preorders
Again, for details please go to: https://community.firstinspires.org/game-preview-field-elements
We at Pennsylvania FIRST Robotics are also working diligently on the 2026-2027 Season calendar. More to come on that subject, however our website for next season is up and running so as we create opportunities and teams register with FIRST and our events, you will be able to track results.
All the best,
Tom and the FTC PA Planning Team
Pennsylvania FIRST® Robotics
FIRST Tech Challenge® Program Delivery Partner
phone: (302) 383-9925
email: ftc@pennfirst.org
Website: www.FTCPenn.org