On Jan. 31, 2026, the Cyber Tigers, a six-person squad from Arcata High School, traveled to Roseville to put their own designed and built robot to the test.
FIRST Robotics competitions provide students an opportunity to work collaboratively and solve problems creatively under real-world constraints. These competitions have been described as “Division 1 sport for the mind.”
Helping to develop critical thinking and teamwork, these events are packed with opportunities for students to find their own way to contribute to a team, discover talents and build curiosity.
Teams are paired with other schools to work with which helps foster community and student teaching. For the Cyber Tigers’ first competition, these alliances were critical.
The FIRST tech challenge is an ultra-competitive robotics league for students grades seven through 12. Teams design, build and program their own robots, then compete in fast-paced matches lasting two and a half minutes. Scoring is based on precision, strategy, alliance coordination and performance under pressure.
John Scoffield, volunteer and mentor for the team remarked, “I’m very proud of them, they put themselves out there with very little experience into a vulnerable situation. They designed a robot, and the competition was very fast paced where first time problem solving was pushed to the max .”
To have other schools in Humboldt create their own robotics team would be a great benefit and could be a start of more local competitions and collaborations. Keep your eyes out for fundraisers as this scrappy team hosts grassroots events to keep the program open and accessible to all. While the first and second place teams with 13 years experience and/or had Apple and Microsoft sponsors, we believe our creative community can help support ours.
Have experience building and engineering? You could be a great mentor to a team.
FIRST® is the world’s leading youth robotics community, delivering youth robotics competitions that inspire innovation, build confidence, and prepare young people for life. Founded in 1989 FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a global nonprofit (501(c)(3)) organization that prepares young people for the future through a suite of welcoming, team-based robotics programs for ages 5-18 (K-12). Discover what drives their global movement at firstinspires.org.
This article appears in My Humboldt Life February 2026.