Team Kazakhstan bags 12 awards at World Robotics Championship in Houston
The competitions were held at the George R. Brown Center and drew over 50,000 participants worldwide. A record delegation of 225 schoolchildren represented Kazakhstan, Qazinform News Agency reports, citing the Kazakh Enlightenment Ministry.
The national robotics engineering team performed well at the 2026 FIRST Robotics Competition World Championship in Houston, securing 12 awards and demonstrating a high level of preparedness among schoolchildren.
Following four competition days, Kazakhstan’s teams achieved strong results across all categories.
In the junior FIRST LEGO League Explore category, the Alem Innovators team from Almaty won the Core Values Award, while the DeepSeekers from Haileybury Astana received the Team Model Award.
In the FIRST LEGO League Challenge category, the Tolebi Daryn team from the Turkistan region placed among the world’s top five and became a finalist for the Champion Award. The Tidal Tumble team from Oral Intellectual School achieved one of the best results in the robotics game, earning 535 points out of 545.
In the FIRST Tech Challenge category, the JelToqSun team from Karaganda won the Sustainability Award. The Overtime team from Shymkent Intellectual School, the Fizmat Robotics team from Astana’s National School of Physics and Math, and the KAP team from Almaty Polytech claimed the Reach Award. Teams TGJ of Polytech Almaty, Panheya of Almaty Medeu Intellectual School, and Sana of Almaty Bilim-Innovation Lyceum earned awards in the same category. The XCeption team from Astana Intellectual School won bronze in the Think Award.
The teams Celestial from Shuchinsk Bilim-Innovation Lyceum and Panheya, for the first time for Kazakhstan, reached the top eight and became alliance captains in the playoffs. The Nomadic Dragons team from Haileybury Astana advanced to the quarterfinals and became the only Kazakh team to enter the top four alliances in its division.
These accomplishments were achieved through systematic preparation and support from Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Enlightenment, USTEM Foundation, and the Daryn National Scientific and Practical Center. Kazakhstan has steadily strengthened its position in the international FIRST movement since 2020.
Earlier, it was reported that students from Astana delivered a strong performance at the international FIDA USA Drone Soccer Championship in the U.S., earning prize placements.
