A team of Kenyan students has bagged a silver medal in the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Global Robotics Challenge 2025.
The team, which was comprised of high school students, participated in the competition from Monday, October 27, until Saturday, November 1, in Panama City, Panama.
The competition involved students drawn from over 190 nations globally, who have been branded as 'rising talents' in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
During the competition, each group of students was required to engineer a robot that could do a specific task, based on a given theme. The theme keeps changing each year based on the 14 grand engineering challenges.
In this year's theme, "Eco-Equilibrium", the students were required to create a robot that would help in protecting biodiversity.
"In a stunning display of teamwork, FGC Team Kenya has achieved a major victory on the world stage. The team, composed of brilliant and dedicated Kenyan high school students, secured a Silver medal in the Event Finals of the 2025 FIRST Global Challenge in Panama City, Panama," a statement from the event read.
"So each country sends a team to compete. Every year, there is a theme based on the 14 grand engineering challenges. So you have to build a robot that can do specific tasks based on a game design that is inspired by the year's theme," it added.
Since the launch of the competition in 2017, Kenya has always sent a team to represent the country, and each has brought an award home.
According to the event organisers, the competition plays a fundamental role in equipping the younger generations with the necessary technological skills that will enable them to adapt to the fast-paced technology ecosystem.
"The game was designed to model the real-world challenges of conservation. In the competition, robots, built and programmed by the students, had to work to restore balance to simulated ecosystems," the statement read.
"This involved navigating complex fields to remove 'barriers' (representing pollution or habitat loss) and add 'biodiversity units' (representing the reintroduction of native species), encouraging teams to think creatively about environmental stewardship," it added.
The team emphasised that the competition will be instrumental in enhancing Kenya’s education system, which is progressively shifting its focus toward equipping learners with practical skills in science and technology.
