Good day, Teams and Volunteers,
We hope your summer has been fun and safe because we are now very close to launching our new FTC Season, BIOBUZZ™ presented by RTX. This email is about our Kickoffs, FIRST Team Registration and results from the past season Premier Events.
Welcome to the third 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 season Blasts, please go to our Communications page to reference Announcements and Archive Emails for this and all past seasons.
https://www.ftcpenn.org/communications
FTC Pennsylvania Live and Remote Kickoff Events – In addition to our annual remote kickoff event our teams/partner organizations will host six (6) Live kickoff events where we will have the 2026-2027 FIRST® Robotics season themed FIRST® CANOPY and the new FTC challenge, BIOBUZZ™ presented by RTX™ fields set up. There will be volunteer personnel ready to explain the game rules and get your heart and energy up for brainstorming and game strategy. As 6ou should already be aware, this season’s challenge focuses on biodiversity and nature-inspired problem-solving. Starting with these kickoff events on Saturday, September 12, 2026, our FIRST Tech Challenge teams will amplify the excitement and energy found within the natural world during the new challenge.
https://www.firstinspires.org/first-canopy
The FTC PA Kick-Offs require PFR Registration to assist in the planning and coordination of each event. We have 6 locations across the state including covering the cities of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The locations are convenient to the inner-city schools and organizations as they are both are accessible by public transportation. We highly encourage teachers and school administrators to arrange to have your students attend. Formal 2026-2027 team registration with FIRST HQ is NOT required. Your intent to field a team for this season is what is important. You can use your prior team number to register or, if you have not yet obtained a number, please enter 99999 and we will know of your intent. Also add comments regarding your team as necessary.
See our website for locations and registration. Registration for the Kickoffs will close Sunday, Sep 6th, 2026.
Event Page: https://www.ftcpenn.org/ftc-events
Team Registration: https://www.ftcpenn.org/event-registration
We at Pennsylvania FIRST Robotics are also working diligently on the 2026-2027 Season Competition calendar. More to come on that subject, however our website for next season is up and running and we have 1 scrimmage and 6 Qualifiers already listed. We expect to have at least 6 more qualifiers plus scrimmages and workshops posted before the end of this month to round out our season. Qualifier and Scrimmage Registrations will be open later in September (TBA) as we create and lock in the additional locations.
Please reference Email Blast # 1 and #2 for team registration with FIRST HQ, Express Enrollment (U.S. & Canada and the requirements for additional PA Consent and Release and background check information. We also highlight the availability of Starter Bot kits and FIRST Tech Challenge Skill Builders. https://www.ftcpenn.org/communications
Please be sure to register your teams for the 2026-2027 season with FIRST for as soon as practicable.
Premier Event PA DTC Team Performance overview:
We are very proud and pleased to provide the following summary of the performance of our Pennsylvania FTC Teams at this past season’s Premier Events. AMAZING! Virtually every team was either named in a Judged Award category, advanced to the playoffs or both! With the 6 teams that advanced to the FTC Championship in Houston we had a total of 20 PA teams that went to post-season competitions. Thanks Janny Kim Lee of FTC Robotics Team 25650 – ONE SMALL STEP for an Axolotl for the compilation.
Western Edge Premier Event – May 28 – 31, 2026
- 18603 – TeraBridges – Winning Alliance, Connect Award Winner, Sea Division
- 21364 – First Try – Finalist Alliance and Control Award Winner, Sand Division
Run for the Robots Premier Event – May 28 – 30, 2026
- 8645 – Robotic Doges – Semi-Finalist Alliance and Connect Award Winner, Secretariat Division
- 11792 – BotsBurgh – Inspire Award 3rd Place, Man o’ War Division
Canada Cup – Niagara Premier Event – June 13 – 16, 2026
- 10098 – 2 Eyed Illuminati – Winning Alliance and Connect Award Winner, Technology Division
- 16468 – Green Lemons – Finalist Alliance and Sustain Award 2nd Place, Technology Division
- 12792 – Sharon High Robotics Team – Connect Award 2nd place, Technology Division
- 9242 – GearHounds – Reach Award 2nd Place, Technology Division
- 21324 – Hackin Hounds – Innovate Award 2nd Place, Science Division
Michiana Premier Event Presented by GEARS – June 18 – 21, 2026
- 22312 – The Brobdingnagian Tritocephalic BrainSTEM Robotics Team – Semifinalist Alliance, Jones Division
- 13474 – MARS: Curiosity? – Design Award Winner, Croft Division
Multinational Tech Invitational – June 26 – 28, 2026
- 25650 – One Small Step for an Axolotl – Semifinalist Alliance and Hardware Mastery Award
Chicago Robotics Invitational Premier Event – July 24 – 26, 2026
- 25650 – One Small Step for an Axolotl – Finalist Alliance and The CTA Creative Teleop Award
Carolinas Premier Event – July 25 – 26, 2026
- 17895 – The Prodigiously Hemicephalic BrainSTEM Robotics Team – Finalist Alliance
All the best, until next Blast,
Tom and the FTC PA Planning team,