On January 10th, 2026, the new First Robotics Competition game was revealed. This season’s theme is FIRST AGE, an archaeology and history theme that follows the deep-sea theme. At 12:00 PM EST, our robotics team gathered together to watch the game reveal, and we were excited to say the least. The new climbing strategy, along with a similar shooter from previous years, surprised us but also made us excited for what we have in store in the future.
After viewing the video of the game, the field, and the manual, our team went to our lab, and we discussed several aspects of the game to make sure everyone understood the game. We discussed certain parts of the manual, such as scoring, strategy, and climbing. After important parts of the game were discussed, we split into different teams, with the mechanical leads leading one team each. We then started designing possible prototypes of our robot.
At around 3:00 PM EST, we all stopped prototyping and presented our designs to the team. The other leading individuals judged the mechanical leads and underclassmen to see who could explain their prototype the best, and also to see who could design the best one. After all designs were presented, we went into the auxiliary gym and played a version of the game to get a feel for what the robot will have to do.
We used the actual fuel–ordered previously– for the fuel game pieces, bins as the hubs, and scooters to imagine ourselves as the robot. We had the opportunity to climb, score, and get a glimpse of what playing the game would look like. After all this, we cleaned the auxiliary gym and the lab, then headed home, excited to see what possible designs we would come up with on Monday, January 12, 2026.
