Kazakhstani Schoolchildren Achieve Major Victories at International Robotics Tournaments in the US

Kazakhstani school students have delivered highly successful performances at two prestigious international robotics tournaments under the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) program, capturing top honors and solidifying the exceptional training standards of domestic teams.

The Western Edge Premier Event 2026 took place in Long Beach, California, bringing together 88 of the strongest teams from more than 11 countries worldwide. The tournament united young engineers, programmers, and designers who demonstrated their skills in design, autonomous robot programming, teamwork, and solving complex technical challenges under highly competitive conditions.

Kazakhstan was represented by teams PHOBOS, Qazaq Style, and UlyDala from Almaty, as well as GAMBIT from Aktobe.

The ultimate triumph was achieved by the PHOBOS team. The students secured one of the tournament's highest accolades, the Inspire Award, earned the title of Sea Division Winning Alliance Captain, and subsequently led the championship alliance to become the Absolute Winners of the Western Edge Premier Event 2026. Throughout the tournament, the team demonstrated consistent results in both matches and expert evaluations, impressing the judges with the quality of their engineering solutions and their level of preparation.

The GAMBIT team was honored with the Think Award 2nd Place for their high standard of engineering solutions and technical documentation. The UlyDala team successfully advanced to the playoff stage, while Qazaq Style demonstrated outstanding results in programming and engineering developments. Participants also presented their own technical projects, provided detailed insights into their robot creation process, and exchanged expertise with teams from other nations.

Another major milestone was reached by the Atomic Heart team from the Nazarbayev Intellectual School (NIS) of the Abai District in Shymkent.

The international tournament Run for the Robots Premier Event was held in Lexington, Kentucky, gathering the strongest FTC teams from around the globe. As part of the competition, participants underwent technical interviews, defended their engineering portfolios, and demonstrated the efficiency of their robots across a series of intense matches.

Based on the competition results, the Atomic Heart team emerged as the winner of the Inspire Award in the Man o’ War Division. This award is considered the most prestigious in the FIRST Tech Challenge framework, presented to the team that best embodies the challenge's ideals—not only in robotics performance but also in engineering documentation, project presentation, community outreach, and mentorship. Receiving this award highlights the team's well-rounded development and its ability to successfully bridge technical achievements with leadership and the promotion of STEM fields among youth.

The achievements of these students serve as a brilliant testament to how systematic preparation, mentor support, and youth engagement in engineering sciences can drive outstanding results on the world's largest competitive stages.