The INTO THE DEEP season was our biggest yet – and it all came to an unforgettable finale at our UK Championship on 26-27 June, hosted at the Copper Box Arena in London’s Olympic Park.
Over two electric days, 64 of the UK’s top robotics teams from all four nations battled it out to be crowned UK Champions. The arena buzzed with energy as robots took to the field, strategies were pushed to the limit and alliances forged.
The stakes couldn’t have been higher. The UK Championship was where STEM meets sport – a high-octane showdown of engineering, teamwork, coopertition and community.
Let’s meet this year’s championship winners who rose to the INTO THE DEEP challenge and inspired us all…
UK Winning Alliance
Captain – Norwood Industries, The Norwood School, UK-378, 21196
Partner – Powercut Robotics, Langley Park School for Boys, UK-497, 25268
UK Finalist Alliance
Captain – Botonauts, St John’s Marlborough, UK-457, 28578
Partner – Wilsobotics, Wilson’s School, UK-683, 27883
Atlantic Division Finalist Alliance
Captain – Mr Krabs, Alconbury Middle High School, UK-429, 25759
Partner – Ctrl Alt Defeat, Friends’ School, UK-556, 25416
Pacific Division Finalist Alliance
Captain – Kraken The Code, Thomas Alleynes, High School, UK-157, 25044
Partner – Barrel Botz, The King’s School, UK-488, 24325
Inspire Award Winner – Powercut Robotics
Langley Park School for Boys, UK-497, 25268
“This award is the big one. They have embodied the ‘challenge’ of FIRST Tech Challenge, are a top contender for many other judged awards and are all-around gracious competitors.”
Think Award Winner – Norwood Industries
The Norwood School, UK-378, 21196
“This award recognises a team with an amazing engineering section in their Engineering Portfolio. The team has carefully noted the journey they have taken throughout the engineering design process during the build season.”
Connect Award Winner – P4F Robotics
Passion4Fusion, UK-541, 25357
“This team has helped the community understand FIRST, the FIRST Tech Challenge, and the team itself, and has recognised that engaging their local STEM community plays an essential part in their success.”
Innovate Award sponsored by RTX Winner – Quarry Robotics
Calderstones School, UK-172, 24908
“The Innovate Award celebrates a team that thinks imaginatively and has the ingenuity, creativity and inventiveness to make their designs come to life. This award celebrates a team that thinks outside the box and has the most innovative and creative robot design solution for any specific components in the FIRST Tech Challenge game.”
Control Award Winner – Gear SubZero
Brighton College, UK-279, 19259
“This award is given to the team that has been very clever with their programming and has shown innovative thinking in the control system to solve game challenges.”
Motivate Award Winner – Circuit Breakers Vol 4
St John Fisher Catholic College, UK-035, 20981
“This award celebrates a team that represents the essence of FIRST Tech Challenge through team building, team spirit, enthusiasm, and by encouraging those around them to get involved with the challenge.”
Design Award Winner – Phoenix
The American School in London, UK-235, 19280
“This award goes to a team with a robot that functions well, and looks great too. The innovative design does not compromise the practical operation of the robot, but complements its purpose.”
Judges’ Award Winner – Earth, Wind & Wire
CREATED Academy, UK-095, 28537
“Essentially the Judge’s Choice award, this accolade goes to a team that stood out to the panel of judges for their unique efforts, performance or dynamics, however, didn’t quite fit the criteria for any other big award.”
Nominees
Emma Swan, Optical Engineer at Oxford Instruments Andor
Aaron Stevens, Development Engineer at Zeiss Microscopy
Wendy Mitchell, STEM Ambassador
Joss Benyon, Software Engineer and STEM Lead for Gloucestershire Site at Raytheon UK
Ricardo Delfin, Senior Linux Kernel Engineer at Bloomberg
Bianca Ivanova, Alum and student
Dave Beaman, STEM Ambassador
Mackensie Kim, Alum and student
Winner
Craig Hamilton, Postgraduate Research Student at Edinburgh Centre for Robotics
“Craig Hamilton has supported lots of events this year, being an ever-present technical reassurance for teams to see field-side. Everybody knows that Craig is a great referee, not to mention he’s always willing to help where needed, from set-up to pack-down!”
Nominees
James Watts, Champion Org Ambassador and Team Lead at Oxford High School
Matt Fry, Champion Org Ambassador and Team Lead at Langley Park School for Boys
Thomas Elwood, Team Lead at Wilson’s School
Ivan Roulson, Champion Org Ambassador and Team Lead at The King’s School
Julia Heaton, Team Lead for Funny Wonders
Rafi, Mentor to LAE Robotics
Elis Rees, Team Lead at Mercia School
Winners
Lauren Brabbs and Richard Walker, Champion Org Ambassador and Team Leads at St John Fisher Catholic College
“The powerhouse St John Fisher duo. Every weeknight, they support not one but three FIRST Tech Challenge UK teams. Today, they’ve brought all of them as Youth Ambassadors to cheer on their senior team, Circuit Breakers Vol. 4 – legends!”
Want to know where your team ranked? Check out the Atlantic and Pacific Division rankings.
Congratulations to all teams who made it to the UK Championships – it’s no easy feat!
Beyond the trophies, titles and rankings, a massive thank-you goes to our teams, partners, Game Changers, team leads, Champion Organisations, Youth Ambassadors and alumni for making the INTO THE DEEP season one to remember.
Our UK Championship was a testament to the community we’ve built together.
We’ll be back next season for DECODE presented by RTX. Let’s build More Than Robots.