It's happening... Premier Event Invitations are here!
February 7, 2025
We’re less than two months away from FIRST® Tech Challenge teams loading in at the 2026 FIRST® Championship, and we’re excited to share some updates with you all! There will be more to come as we build towards the event, so pay attention to the Blog and Team Updates to stay up to date on key information. If you’ve attended the FIRST Championship before, we have made some changes so please pay close attention to this year’s details.
Event Webpage
This year we’re launching a webpage specific to FIRST Tech Challenge teams at FIRST Championship. This page is a supplement to the webpage for the FIRST Championship, which gives information on the overall event. The webpage will also include the FIRST Tech Challenge event guide, which has additional information for team members and guests.
New Division Names
As previously announced FIRST Tech Challenge Championship is expanding to six divisions, which gives us the opportunity to celebrate some new notable figures. Here are our division names:
If you are not familiar with any of these amazing individuals, take a minute to check them out! Our grand finals will be played on the da Vinci fields.
Floor Plan
The floor plan has shifted from prior seasons due to the removal of built-in bleachers and growth of number of divisions and teams. A simplified version of the floorplan can be seen here!
Schedule
A high-level schedule is posted on the FIRST® webpage. Please note that there are no team activities on Tuesday, April 28.
Judging
You’ll notice on the schedule that there is no set judging time for each team and that judging will happen in the pits. We’re still finalizing the exact details of the plan and will share more details on what teams can expect prior to the event in a Team Update.
Housing
As a reminder, all teams must book housing through the FIRST Housing Program. Details on the program are available in this blog post, including a guide of the booking process, a map of hotels, and an FAQ document.
Field Changes
As described in Section 15.2 of the DECODE™ Competition Manual we mentioned several changes which might be made to the fields at the FIRST Championship Event. The full list of these changes will be published in the final Team Update of the season, but we’re happy to give you a preview of a few of them now.
- First off, the fields may look a little different: many of the metal components (including the ramp brackets and extrusions) will be black anodized.
- Knowing that the FIRST Championship Event typically has more stage lighting than many events, we’re also updating five AprilTags on each field to a new matte material which is even more glare resistant.
As a reminder, the competition playing fields will be on 24 inch tall risers described in Section 15.2 of the DECODE Competition Manual. Six of the 14 practice fields will also be on risers.
Robot Shipping
Teams attending the 2026 FIRST Championship can choose to either ship their robot using the FedEx voucher or hand-carry their robot to the event.
Once your team registers for FIRST Championship, you are sent an email asking if you want to bring your robot to the event yourself or ship it via the FedEx voucher. You must select one or the other, as there will be no ‘default’ option.
- If you opt to carry your robot yourself, you must bring your 1 competition robot to FIRST Championship along with all your other pit equipment.
- If you opt to ship your robot, we provide a FedEx shipping voucher and a ship-not-later than date. Teams must ship no later than that date or risk their robots not arriving at FIRST Championship in time for the event.
- Teams who chose to ship their robot must follow the Shipping Crate Instructions.
- Teams may not use a FedEx Voucher for pit equipment/other non-robot items. Using a voucher in this way is considered an abuse of the donor’s intent and generosity. If you are shipping using the FedEx voucher, only your robot, and batteries may be in the crate. If you’d like to ship additional equipment, you must coordinate, ship, and pay for it on your own.
A big thanks to FedEx for once again sponsoring robot shipments to FIRST Championship!
Submit your Team Compass Video
We encourage advancing teams that make a Compass Award video in their regular season, to have their lead coach 1 or 2 submit the video to FIRST to be viewed and judged to determine the FIRST Championship video award winners.
The top three Compass videos will be shown at our FIRST Championship Opening Ceremony.
If you would like to submit a video, please send it to us by April 8, 2026.
How to submit your video:
1) Review the criteria for the Compass Award in section 6.5.2 of the DECODE Competition Manual.
2) Name your file following this naming convention: Region Abbreviation_Team#_Compass
Example: NH_12345_Compass or MEX_23456_Compass
3) Have your team's lead coach 1 or 2 can complete the submission form and upload the video.
Volunteering
We are still in need of volunteers to help make the event a success. More details on the roles and time commitments are in this blog post.
We’d like to highlight that we’re still recruiting Judges. This role requires attendance at the event from Wednesday through Friday.
We’re also hoping to recruit team coaches and parents as single day robot inspectors on Wednesday. If you have any interested adults traveling with your team to the FIRST Championship, please encourage them to sign up to volunteer!
