2026 FTC Nebraska Championship

More than 20 student robotics teams made up of participants ages 12-18 converged on Metropolitan Community College’s Fort Omaha Campus on Saturday, Feb. 28, to compete for a chance to represent the state at the FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship. The world competition, set for late April in Houston, brings together teams from 66 countries, showcasing innovation and connecting students from around the world.

Randy Veach, who is the MCC program delivery partner for the Nebraska FIRST Tech Challenge, said the event is unique in how it tests participants.

Teams first present their design, engineering and programming work to a panel of judges before putting their robots to the test in timed, head-to-head matches. During the competition rounds, teams are randomly paired and must work together to outscore their opponents.

This year, teams worked together to gather and intake softball-sized plastic balls with specialized parts and launch them into raised goals following an arc like a basketball released to the hoop from a jump shot.

Astra Machina, an Omaha Creighton Prep team, emerged as the 2026 FTC Nebraska Champion. Rebel Robotics from Norfolk won the Inspire Award, which FTC describes as the top honor of competition.

“It’s a great feeling. I’m super proud of all our teams — they all did really well. I’m especially proud of our guys that are going to Worlds,” said Rich Mansfield, the faculty leader of Creighton Prep’s robotics program, which had six teams qualify for the Nebraska Championship. “People ask, ‘How is your robot so great?’ It wasn’t in September — they slowly improved it and made it better.”

The Nebraska Championship showcased a statewide effort to expand access to robotics exploration and education. The final match is a perfect example; Astra Machina from Omaha faced off against the Scottsbluff High School Robotics Cyber Claws. Normally, those students are separated by 450 miles on opposite sides of the state.

MCC is in its second year as Nebraska’s FTC program delivery organization. This initiative was supported through an Economic Development Administration (EDA) Build Back Better Regional Challenge grant focused on robotics and urban agriculture. Through that investment, MCC has supported more than 600 students through statewide summer robotics, urban agriculture and expanded participation to 25 FTC teams across Nebraska.

By serving as the state’s FTC program delivery organization, MCC is ensuring students statewide have meaningful access to STEM experiences that connect directly to workforce needs and strengthen Nebraska’s long-term talent pipeline, said Tammy Green, MCC executive director of Statewide Workforce Education Initiatives.

“Robotics education isn’t just building robots — it’s building Nebraska’s future workforce by igniting creativity, coding skills, and career pathways for every student,” Green said. “At MCC, we believe access to high-quality STEM opportunities should not depend on a student’s zip code. From rural to urban communities across Nebraska, expanding robotics programming means expanding access to engineering, design, programming and advanced manufacturing pathways that lead to real careers. Programming ignites a passion for design as students learn to code, prototype and problem-solve, sparking creativity alongside technical skill development."

Team representation reached far beyond Omaha — Columbus, Deshler, Geneva, Gordon/Rushville, Lincoln, Norfolk, Scottsbluff, Scribner/Snyder and Wallace. This year’s championship included nine more teams than last year’s finals.

“It’s gained some steam, and we want to see it grow even more next year. [FTC participation] has done lot for our kids on the team personally and where they're going to go in life, and we want that for other kids [in Nebraska],” said Stan Edwards, a member of the coaching staff from Rebel Robotics. “Everybody in the stands sees the robots and all the technical skills on display in the arena, but what they don’t see are the soft skills that get presented [to the judges]. When you couple those technical skills and those soft skills, nothing is going to stop these kids from being successful.”

Other award recipients from the day included:

Inspire (second place): Astra Machina (Omaha – Creighton Prep)
Inspire (third place): Traffic Cones (Omaha – Creighton Prep)
Leadership: Baron Henderson, Kuck Kuck (Omaha – Creighton Prep)
Design: N-Bots (Lincoln)
Reach: G-R Overdrive (Gordon/Rushville)
Control: Nucor Robotics Silver (Columbus)
Innovate: Gnat Ones (Omaha – Creighton Prep)
Sustain: STEAM Punks (Geneva)
Connect: Nucor Robotics Green (Columbus)
Think: Scottsbluff High School Robotics Cyber Claws (Scottsbluff)