October 24, 2026 · Piedmont Makers
Eleven East Bay Hills League teams got their first matches on this year's FTC game, and Highlander Robotics 8033 took its new robot to a fourth-place alliance finish at CalGames.
Robotics season is warming up. Before the first league meet and the new FRC game, our middle and high school teams spent mid-October getting in practice matches.
On October 17, 11 teams from the East Bay Hills FTC League came to the 10th Street practice field in Oakland for the season’s first scrimmage. This year’s FIRST Tech Challenge game is BIOBUZZ, part of the FIRST CANOPY season.
Scrimmage results don’t count toward rankings, so teams can treat every match as a test run. Drivers got time on a full field against other robots, and teams headed home with a list of fixes while there’s still time to make them.
Scores start counting at the league’s first qualifying meet on Sunday, November 1, at Piedmont Middle School’s Morrison Gym. Meets run on parent volunteers, and the volunteer signup is on our calendar.
Highlander Robotics Team 8033 spent October 16-18 at CalGames, the Bay Area’s FRC off-season competition, at Woodside High School. Off-season events replay the previous season’s game, REBUILT, and 8033 built a brand-new robot for it, named John Dumper. The off-season is where rookies learn the ropes before competition season starts in January, and building a new robot from scratch is a big part of that. With 45 first-year students in Highlander Robotics this year, there was plenty to learn.
8033 finished qualification matches ranked 9th. In alliance selection, the third alliance picked 8033 in the first round, and that alliance went on to finish 4th in the tournament.
Next up for the high schoolers is the FRC game reveal on January 9, when teams gather at 10th Street to see the new game and start planning their robots.
Families curious about FTC for grades 7-12 or FRC for high schoolers can find more on our robotics page.