About First®

FIRST® is an organization founded in 1989 to inspire young peoples’ interest and participation in Science and Technology. Based in Manchester, NH, this non-profit public charity designs accessible innovative programs that motivate young people to pursue educational and career opportunities in science, engineering, technology and mathematics while building self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills.

The Annual Challenge

The FTC program is the First Technical Challenge … one of the challenges presented by FIRST to high school and middle school students. The Challenge changes annually, and it challenges students to build robots that can accomplish a number of tasks in the most efficient manner. Once the Challenge is revealed in mid-September, each robotics team designs, builds, programs and tests robots to accomplish the tasks presented in the Challenge. They then compete with other teams to see who can score the highest number of points as defined in the Challenge. For the first part of the Challenge there is a 30 second period where the robot must operate autonomously. No human interface. At the end of this period there is a 2 minute period where team members can control the robot by remote control to accomplish the other tasks. In competitive matches the teams are randomly matched with other teams to form “Alliances”, and two “Alliances” compete against each other. “Alliance” partners are then randomly changed for a number of subsequent matches, and the top teams are selected based on their overall scores when matched with the various partners. Final winners are selected in runoff elimination matches involving the top teams until a final pair of winners are determined.

BIOBUZZ Presented by RTX

BIOBUZZ is the official 2026–2027 FIRST Tech Challenge game presented by RTX, part of the FIRST CANOPY season. The theme celebrates the energy of the natural world as teams build robots that collect pollen and nectar, tip hives and fill flowers.

Basic Game Structure

  • FTC matches are played between two alliances of two teams each on a standardized 12 ft × 12 ft field. At the center of the field is a hive structure holding one hive for each alliance, and four flowers are mounted on the perimeter walls.
  • A match is divided into three phases:
    1. Autonomous (30 seconds) – Robots operate based on pre-programmed instructions.
    2. Driver-Controlled / Tele-Op (2 minutes) – Human drivers control the robot.
    3. Endgame (final 60 seconds of Tele-Op) – The flowers unlock for scoring, and alliances race to claim them and return to their loading zone.

Core Game Objectives

While the official manual contains all details, BIOBUZZ’s major objectives generally include:

🌼 Collecting Pollen & Nectar

  • Robots collect and score game elements: pollen (plastic balls about 3 in. across) and nectar (larger and heavier).
  • Every robot starts the match preloaded with four pollen, and more can be picked up from the flowers, the gardens and the field.
  • Each alliance holds five nectar in reserve. One enters play each time its hive tips, and all the rest can enter with 60 seconds left.

🐝 Tipping the Hive

  • Robots launch pollen and nectar into the upward-facing cell of their alliance’s hive. When enough has landed in the cell, the hive tips, which earns points and unlocks more nectar.
  • Hive tips can happen in both the autonomous and driver-controlled periods, and anything still in the cell at the end of the match earns a few more points.

🌸 Claiming Flowers

  • In the final minute, alliances place pollen and nectar into the tops of the flowers.
  • The alliance with the bottom-most nectar in a flower earns a bonus, and the alliance whose nectar is on top owns the flower and earns points for everything inside it.

🏁 Robot Positioning

  • Robots earn points for leaving the starting wall during autonomous and for parking in their alliance’s loading zone.

📊 Ranking Points

  • In addition to match points, teams earn ranking points (RPs) for winning (or tying) and for reaching targets: the SWARM RP for leave and park points, and the POLLINATOR RPs for the number of hive tips. These influence tournament standings.

Design, Strategy & Skills

  • Teams must design, build, and program a robot capable of:
    • Navigating the field efficiently
    • Collecting pollen and nectar reliably
    • Launching accurately into the hive and placing nectar in the flowers
    • Adapting to both autonomous and driver-controlled play
  • Achieving balance between speed, precision, and strategy is critical for success.

Team Experience

In BIOBUZZ, as with all FTC games, success isn’t just about match performance — teams also:

  • Iterate their robot designs over the season.
  • Practice coding and autonomous strategies.
  • Learn engineering and teamwork skills.
  • Participate in judged awards and portfolio submissions that can also contribute toward advancement.