School robotics teams to represent Northern Ireland at UK Championships
Royal Belfast Academical Institution’s robotics team secured the top award at FIRST Tech Challenge UK’s Northern Ireland regional tournament on 1 April, earning themselves a spot at the UK Championship. Friends' School's team had the region's highest performing robot and will also progress to the next stage of the competition.
Northern Irish high school teams competed at their FIRST Tech Challenge UK regional tournament on 01 April 2025. The challenge is part of the world's largest robotics competition, FIRST Tech Challenge.
The Royal Belfast Academical Institution (RBAI) team achieved the Inspire Award, FIRST Tech Challenge UK’s most prestigious award. It goes to the strongest team across a range of categories, including engineering, STEM outreach and developing innovative solutions.
Also progressing is team Software Therapy from Friends' School in Lisburn. They had the highest-performing robot and led an alliance with another team to the ultimate victory. They were crowned Winning Alliance Captains.
The two teams will now compete at the UK Championship at the Copper Box Arena in London on 26 and 27 June 2025. They’ll go head-to-head against 62 other UK teams.
“We’re very proud of ourselves and feel that all the hours we put in paid off. We’re really excited to represent Northern Ireland. We won the Inspire Award so we’re feeling pretty inspired going into champs” shared the RBAI team.
The event, hosted at W5, was supported by local volunteers from companies including Oxford Instruments Andor and Thales.
The tournament saw teams put their student-built robots to the test in this year’s water-themed challenge, ‘INTO THE DEEP’. During two-and-a-half-minute matches, alliances of two teams compete to score points by completing complex tasks using robots programmed for both autonomous and driver-controlled operation. Beyond technical skills, the challenge fosters teamwork, problem-solving and resilience under pressure.
“The teams’ incredible creativity, resilience and problem-solving skills truly demonstrate what it takes to succeed in STEM and their futures. Not only have they risen to the challenge, but they’ve also reminded us all that teamwork and collaboration are what’s needed to tackle tomorrow’s biggest challenges.” shared Patrice John-Baptiste, Head of Impact and Engagement at FIRST UK.
FIRST Tech Challenge UK empowers young people aged 12-18 with the technical knowledge and soft skills to thrive in STEM and beyond. They work like teams in industry to design, build and program a robot to compete at progressive events. Teams hone new skills such as communication, teamwork, programming, project management, fundraising and engineering.
The programme is run by charity, FIRST UK, with a mission to make STEM less intimidating, more diverse and inclusive. Supported by Arm, XTX Markets, RTX, Gene Haas Foundation, Bloomberg, Salesforce and Qualcomm, the charity is part of the global FIRST movement established in 1989, which reaches 650,000 young people worldwide each year.