Introducing our INTO THE DEEP champions!

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…

Championship game winners

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

Judged award winners

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.”

Volunteer of the Year

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!”

Compass Award

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!”

Team rankings

Want to know where your team ranked? Check out the Atlantic and Pacific Division rankings. 

This is only the beginning!

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.