FIRST Tech Challenge India
by FIRST India
National robotics league season
National robotics league for ages 12 to 18: teams design, build and code a robot for alliance matches, run in India by FIRST India.
Mode
In-Person
Fee
₹46,020
Participation format
Team
Teams of 15 to 20
Duration
One season, from the September kickoff to the February national championship
Eligibility
Open to teams of 15 to 20 students aged 12 to 18, roughly grades 7 to 12, with at least two coaches. Teams may be school based or community based. A team registers as a team, not student by student, and must first obtain a six-digit international team number from FIRST before entering an Indian regional qualifier.
- Grade level
- Grade 7 to 12
- Age range
- 12 to 18 years
- Eligibility region
- Available nationwide across India
- Prerequisites
- Student aged 12 to 18 during the season
- Membership of a team of 15 to 20 students with at least two coaches
- A six-digit FIRST international team number obtained from firstinspires.org
- Team registration paid for one regional qualifier
See if your child qualifies.
Rewards and recognition
Prizes
Tournament awards
Awards recognise robot performance and design alongside the team's outreach, fundraising and identity work, and there is a separate FIRST Tech Challenge Leadership Award with its own nomination window.
Recognition
National championship stage
Skills your child builds
Key dates
- Registration opened
- 1 Jul 2026
- Registration closed
- 11 Sept 2026
- Competition
- 8 Jan 2027 to 14 Feb 2027
Season kickoff and game reveal
The BIOBUZZ season game, rules and challenge are revealed.
Ahmedabad Regional Qualifier, Ahmedabad, Gujarat
How to apply
- 1Register the team with FIRST at firstinspires.org and obtain the six-digit international team number
- 2Pay the FTC India regional qualifier team registration fee on the FIRST India portal
- 3Complete the FTC India team information form you are redirected to after payment
- 4Build and code the robot through the season, then compete at the assigned regional qualifier
Rules and guidelines
- A team is 15 to 20 students with a minimum of two coaches
- A valid six-digit FIRST international team number is required before Indian registration
- Registration covers one regional qualifier per team
- Matches run a 30 second autonomous period followed by two minutes of driver control
Fees and financial support
Fee details
Team registration for one regional qualifier is Rs 39,000 plus GST of Rs 7,020, Rs 46,020 in total, paid once per team on the FIRST India portal. Teams that advance to the India National Championship pay a separate championship registration of Rs 49,000 plus 18 percent GST. Robot hardware, travel and accommodation are the team's own costs.
About this opportunity
FIRST Tech Challenge is the middle and high school tier of the FIRST robotics family, run in India by FIRST India. A team of 15 to 20 students with at least two coaches designs, builds and programs a classroom-scale robot, then competes head to head in two-on-two alliance matches against other teams.
Each match runs a 30 second autonomous period, where the robot follows only the code the team wrote, followed by two minutes of driver control. Robots are built on a reusable platform using parts from suppliers such as GoBilda and REV Robotics, and teams may program in Java, Python, JavaScript, C++ or block-based languages. Beyond the robot, teams build a team identity, raise funds and do community outreach, and awards recognise that work as well as robot performance.
A team registers with FIRST globally to get its six-digit international team number, then enters one of the regional qualifying tournaments FIRST India runs across the country. Teams that advance go to the India National Championship, and the national champions represent the country at the FIRST World Championship.
The commitment is about three hours a week across the season, from the September kickoff to the tournaments in January and February. Around a hundred teams take part nationally.
Rounds and format
Regional qualifying tournaments run across six cities. Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, and Pune. Teams that advance go to the India National Championship, and the national champions represent India at the FIRST World Championship. Within a tournament, teams play two-on-two alliance matches. Each match is a 30 second autonomous period, where the robot runs only on the team's own program, followed by two minutes of driver-controlled play.
How entries are judged
Two things are assessed separately. Match play is scored by referees against the published game rules, with alliance results deciding the tournament rankings. Awards are decided by judges who interview each team and review its engineering notebook, robot design, programming approach, outreach and fundraising, so a team can win significant awards without topping the match standings. The FIRST Core Values, covering teamwork, inclusion and gracious professionalism, run through the judged awards.
Selection process
Entry is open: any team that obtains a FIRST team number and pays the regional qualifier fee can compete, and there is no selection round beforehand. Advancement to the India National Championship is earned at the regional qualifier through match results and judged awards. National champions advance to the FIRST World Championship.
Academic details
Difficulty: Intermediate
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