Kazakh school students sweep top robotics awards in U.S.
Kazakh high-school students have won top awards at two prestigious international robotics tournaments under the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) program, Qazinform News Agency reports, citing the Ministry of Enlightenment.
The Western Edge Premier Event 2026 took place in Long Beach, California. The competition brought together 88 top teams from more than 11 countries. The tournament united young engineers, programmers, and designers who demonstrated skills in design, autonomous robot programming, teamwork, and solving complex technical challenges under intense competition.
Kazakhstan was represented by teams PHOBOS, Qazaq Style, and UlyDala from Almaty, as well as GAMBIT from Aktobe.
The main success was achieved by Team PHOBOS. The students won one of the tournament's highest awards, the Inspire Award, earned the title of Sea Division Winning Alliance Captain, and then led the championship alliance to become the absolute champions of the Western Edge Premier Event 2026. Throughout the tournament, the team demonstrated consistent results in matches and judging sessions, impressing the judges with the quality of their engineering solutions and skill level.
Team GAMBIT received the Think Award 2nd Place for their high-level engineering solutions and technical documentation. Team UlyDala advanced to the playoffs, while Team Qazaq Style showed strong results in programming and engineering development. The contestants also presented their own technical projects, detailed the robot-building process, and exchanged experiences with teams from other countries.
Another major success was achieved by the Atomic Heart team from the Nazarbayev Intellectual School (NIS) in Shymkent.
The Run for the Robots Premier Event took place in Lexington, Kentucky, bringing together top FTC teams from around the world. During the competition, participants underwent technical interviews, defended engineering notebooks, and demonstrated the effectiveness of their robots in a series of intense matches.
The Atomic Heart team won the Inspire Award in the Man o' War Division. This award is considered the most prestigious in the FIRST Tech Challenge system and is given to the team that shows the best results not only in robotics but also in engineering documentation, project presentation, community service, and mentoring. The award reflects the team's well-rounded development and its ability to blend technical achievements with leadership and the promotion of STEM among schoolchildren.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that more than 3.2 million children in Kazakhstan will take part in summer recreation and wellness programs during the holidays. Over 11,000 recreational centers will operate nationwide, offering activities in ecology, sports, reading, and artificial intelligence.
