A scrimmage season like no other

Scrimmages are one of the first opportunities for the community to come together in person and share ideas. During our scrimmages across December and January, teams have been innovating their robots and gaining confidence in their own abilities to compete. 

They have well and truly impressed us not only with their engineering approaches but also their willingness to collaborate, level up their competitors and celebrate each other’s early achievements. 

If this season’s scrimmages are anything to go by, there’s going to be a lot of tight competition come qualifiers. Teams have really raised the bar this year…

Let’s see what our HQ hub coordinators have to say.

North East England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales 

Scrimmage season is officially done and dusted, and it’s been an absolute blast. We’ve had teams gather across Wales, Northern Ireland, North East England, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow – 24 teams in total, with more than half of them new to the challenge.

For me, the best part was finally meeting so many young people and Team Leads face-to-face after weeks of emails and virtual calls. There’s nothing quite like seeing their robots, excitement, and even nerves in real life. At one scrimmage, a new team completely dismantled and rebuilt their drive train with no instructions – it was truly impressive! Meanwhile, I was being challenged to a push-up contest – spoiler: I’m terrible at push-ups.

Edinburgh scrimmage at The National Robotarium. Photo by Heart of Midlothian Innovation Centre.

Matt (Northern Ireland), Steve (North East), Matt and Vicki (Wales), and Blair, Stuart and Ainsley (Scotland) really stepped into their roles as Champion Organisation Ambassadors and nailed it. They took the lead, ran fantastic scrimmages, and made everyone feel supported and excited. Seeing them take ownership like this, creating such a welcoming atmosphere, is exactly what being a Champion Org Ambassador is all about. In Scotland, our A-Team volunteers – Rob, Neve and Craig were the ultimate dream team, going above and beyond to keep everything running like clockwork. Honestly, they’re all legends.

There were loads of highlights – CAD workshops, portfolio walk-throughs, game field demos, and even a hilarious round of FIRST-themed Family Feud. Teams left feeling more confident and fired up for what’s next, and so did I. I can’t wait to see them in action at the qualifiers in a couple of months – it’s going to be epic!

– Toni

East and West Midlands, Yorkshire and Humber, North West and East of England

The scrimmages across middle England were full of excitement, collaboration and teams with unique approaches to this year’s game. 

It would be impossible to pick a single stand-out moment as there are five scrimmages, 423 people and 41 teams to choose from, all of which are worth highlighting. However, a big shoutout goes to those new teams, who arrived a little bit terrified, some of whom hadn’t even opened their kit, but all left feeling energised and some even with a moveable drivetrain!

As well as the new teams, it’s worth mentioning those returning teams, who didn’t just focus on their own robot and progress, but spent their time going around to see if they could lend their specialist knowledge to others. All 41 teams showed inspirational amounts of Gracious Professionalism and their willingness to support the community at their events was ever-present.

Seeing the beginnings of the relationships forming in each of these hubs is compelling, and we’re super excited to see the progress these teams will make before their qualifying tournaments!

– Paige

Shaun, FIRST Tech Challenge UK alum, presenting at the St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy scrimmage.

South West and South East England

With seven Champion Organisations across the South hosting scrimmages, local teams made the most of every opportunity to pick each other’s brains and get their robots onto the game field. 

We had workshops, seminars, a robot check-in station and even talks from FIRST Tech Challenge UK alumni about where the challenge has taken them. Our alumni played a vital role at our scrimmages, not only for their expertise and out-of-the-box thinking but also as relatable role models to those just starting out. Our inspirational mentors from Raytheon UK also stepped in to pass on their industry knowledge and guide teams to find the right answers themselves.

Teams collaborating at the American School in London scrimmage. Photo by American School in London.

We were also joined by local STEM companies such as Oxford Dynamics, Mantracourt, Subsea7, the RNLI and more. It’s amazing to hear about the endless possibilities that the challenge opens up for young people in their local area. We’d never have guessed that we’d be hearing about the technology that goes into suspending the likes of Madonna and Adele above the stage during their concerts!

Across the UK, we had teams arrive with just a box of parts and a determination to make things work, and all they left with a clear idea of what comes next. We even saw some robots passing game pieces between each other on the field. If that’s not Gracious Professionalism, we don’t know what is.

– Kayla and Lizzie 

Every workshop, loaned robotics part and team talk is a result of our incredible community. We couldn’t have done it without you all and can’t wait to see teams at their qualifiers – not long now!