From Prince of Wales to Worlds: Youth Robotics, BC + AI, and FIRST Tech Challenge

What started as a BC + AI sponsorship connection with a Prince of Wales robotics team became a season-long reminder that youth robotics is one of the clearest on-ramps into AI, engineering, teamwork, and civic technology.

The thread begins with POWER, FTC Team 20266, a Prince of Wales robotics identity connected to student leader Ollie O’Hagan and coach Fiann O’Hagan. BC + AI came in as a sponsor and community bridge during the 2026 FIRST Tech Challenge season.

From there, the students’ season moved fast: strong BC qualifier results, provincial momentum, community demos at BC + AI gatherings, and a path into Furious Frogs, FTC Team 26025, which competed at the FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship in Houston from April 29 to May 2, 2026.

A Robot In The Room Changes The Room

At BC + AI gatherings, including demos connected to the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, the team did more than hand out a logo. They brought the machine. Students showed how the robot senses the field, finds game pieces, drives autonomously, and shoots into a goal. Suddenly the AI conversation was not abstract. It was gears, code, batteries, cameras, timing, failure, retry, and teenagers explaining their work to adults who build technology for a living.

FIRST Robotics, But Make It Local

FIRST Tech Challenge is part of the global FIRST robotics ecosystem. Teams design, build, program, and compete with robots while practicing Gracious Professionalism. Official FIRST records list POWER / Team 20266 from Vancouver, BC with Prince of Wales Secondary School as its sponsor, and Furious Frogs / Team 26025 from Coquitlam, BC. The official championship event page places the 2026 FIRST Championship – FTC event at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston from April 29 to May 2, 2026.

That global frame matters, but the local frame matters more. For students, the breakthrough is not only the competition. It is access to adults who take their work seriously, a community that invites them back, and the confidence that what they are building belongs in British Columbia’s technology story.

Why BC + AI Is Fundraising

Youth robotics is expensive in deeply ordinary ways. Parts break. Travel costs money. Tools need replacing. Registration fees arrive before the sponsorship cheque does. Snacks matter more than a budget spreadsheet admits. The difference between a student participating and staying home is often a small, practical intervention at the right moment.

The robot team Zeffy page is built for exactly that kind of friction. It keeps administrative load light and points community support toward young people who are already doing the work.

The People In The Story

Ollie O’Hagan brought the student voice and team leadership. Fiann O’Hagan brought the coaching and community bridge. Kris Krug and BC + AI helped sponsor, judge, invite, document, and introduce the team to a wider network.

This is not a one-off feel-good story. It is a prototype for the kind of ecosystem BC + AI wants to build: youth teams, schools, mentors, founders, artists, engineers, public-interest technologists, and community members putting practical support behind the next generation.