As The Hague gears up for the European Robotics League (ERL) in May, it seems that a young generation of roboteers has been making waves in the region. Just 14 kilometres north of Scheveningen, where ERL will be taking place, another robotics competition, the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC), will see 48 teams aged 12-18 battle for three spots to compete internationally.
This year’s FTC Benelux Regional Championships will be held at the American School of The Hague (ASH). Every season, teams are challenged to design, build, and programme robots to complete specific tasks. With the robots they’ve built, teams compete in 2-on-2 alliance matches to collect the most points based on task completion. Qualifying teams meet for the final play-offs and three winning teams advance to represent the region to compete internationally.
Teams are judged not only on their performance in the matches, but also on community outreach, innovation, and collaboration. Through this programme, students build skills, confidence, and create real-world impact.
Last season, the three teams that advanced to the international championships all came from the region of The Hague: The Flying Dutchman (from the American School of The Hague in Wassenaar), Pink to the Future (from Maerlant Lyceum The Hague) and Stanislas Tech Team (from Stanislas College Westplantsoen Delft). These three teams have already qualified for the finals at the 2026 Benelux regionals.
2026 Regional robotics challenge
Hosting the FTC regionals for the first time, ASH is expecting more than 600 participants from the Netherlands and other European countries, and about 1,200 visitors. The event includes a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) expo featuring the hydrogen F1 race car built by TU Delft’s Forze Racing Team. Visitors can learn about Microsoft Dream Space, Junior Internet of Things, and AI for good, and try their hand at manoeuvring a mini Mars rover built by students in ASH’s robotics programme.
Nurturing a community of roboteers
Floor Zegwaard, robotics coach at Maerlant Lyceum, has been teaching robotics for 20 years and has seen Pink to the Future compete on the FTC world stage ten times. They were the first Dutch team to join the competition in 2009 and is a well-known team in the global FTC circuit. Their experience led to their involvement in the filming of Rule Breakers – a true story about the all-girls Afghan robotics team, known as the "Afghan Dreamers".
ASH, Maerlant Lyceum, and Stanislas College all run student led, coach guided robotics programmes. Every season, kids create their own curriculum and design solutions for the FTC challenges. Students in the programmes enjoy the process and are mostly self-motivated, “They don’t see any boundaries… when I tell them something won’t work, they work even harder to prove me wrong,” says Zegwaard.
As a core value, the FTC programme is as much about cooperation as it is about competition – this spirit of ‘coorpetition’ is deeply embedded in their programme, rewarding teams for not just winning, but also innovation, and ‘gracious professionalism’. This creates the basis for a vibrant roboteer community.
Mentoring younger roboteers
Participating FTC teams are encouraged to contribute to their communities through real-world outreach to inspire future generations of roboteers. Stanislas Tech Team (STT), for example, helps coach primary school students who participate in the FIRST Lego League, a similar competition for youths aged 5 to 16. STT students visit their younger counterparts after school to share their knowledge on building and programming robots and coach them through the process of ideation and problem-solving. “We enjoy seeing kids get excited about tech,” says Luuk, one of the student coaches from STT.
Growing interest in robotics in the region
As a school, parents, and community driven programme, ASH has seen student participation in robotics almost quadruple in three years and has noticed a growth across the west side of the country. Starting with 14 students in 2023, ASH now has 54 students competing across three teams in the FTC.
Many of the students from these schools’ high school robotics programme have gone on to further their studies in the tech, computer science, physics, and engineering fields.
About FIRST
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a global youth robotics community that runs robotics competitions designed to inspire young people to explore science and technology. Its goal is to help students build skills, confidence, and practical experience through hands-on learning and teamwork.
Through its programmes, FIRST encourages young people to become future problem-solvers and innovators — while showing that robotics is not only about winning, but also about learning, collaboration, and real-world impact.
More than 4 million youths has participated in competitions organised by FIRST since its founding in 1989.
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