Bubbles Wins Excellence in Engineering Award at the 2026 North Bay Event
By SolversMind Robotics
Published March 22, 2026 | Updated July 17, 2026
Award Recipient: FRC Team 10015 Bubbles
Reviewed by mentors of FRC Team 10015 Bubbles
Why did Bubbles win the Excellence in Engineering Award?
FRC Team 10015 Bubbles won the Excellence in Engineering Award sponsored by Littelfuse at the 2026 FIRST Ontario North Bay District Event (FRC-Event). The award recognizes a machine that uses an engineering solution to make multiple components work together seamlessly, while remaining functional, practical, and effective in competition. Bubbles earned the recognition after finishing second in qualification rankings with a 10-2 record and advancing as an event finalist alongside Teams 610 and 6864. Judges also recognized the team’s match-to-match improvements, practical kick plate, and integrated engineering approach. For a community-based team competing in only its second FRC season, the award represents more than a successful robot. It reflects a student-driven process of identifying problems, researching solutions, designing and manufacturing mechanisms, writing software, testing performance, documenting decisions, and refining the machine under competition pressure. The achievement shows what young engineers can accomplish when they are trusted with real responsibility and supported by experienced mentors.
Award Script
The Excellence in Engineering Award sponsored by Littelfuse celebrates the team whose machine incorporates an engineering solution designed to have components work together seamlessly.
The effervescent nature of this team’s cloud-based engineering approach helped them rise to the top. With improvements from match-to-match and their practical kick plate, this team are the architects of their own future!
Congratulations Team 10015!
What does the Excellence in Engineering Award recognize?
The Excellence in Engineering Award, sponsored by Littelfuse, celebrates a team whose machine incorporates an engineering solution designed to make multiple components work together seamlessly.
FIRST evaluates whether the team can clearly explain the problems it identified, trace its engineering process from initial concept to completed design, and demonstrate that its solution is functional, practical, and effective on the field.
Unlike an award focused on one isolated mechanism, Excellence in Engineering recognizes how the robot’s systems work together as a complete machine. Mechanical design, electrical systems, programming, controls, driver operation, and match strategy must support one another.
For Bubbles, this recognition celebrated not only what the students built, but also how they built it.
How did students improve the robot throughout the event?
The Bubbles robot continued to evolve during the North Bay competition.
Students studied match performance, identified weaknesses, discussed possible solutions, manufactured or adjusted components, updated software, and returned to the field with improvements. The judges specifically highlighted the team’s ability to make meaningful progress from match to match.
One practical example was the robot’s kick plate, which helped solve an important gameplay challenge without introducing unnecessary complexity. It reflected the team’s broader engineering philosophy: identify the real problem, create a practical solution, test it under realistic conditions, and improve it based on evidence.
This process required close collaboration among the mechanical, electrical, programming, drive, strategy, and documentation groups. Every change needed to support the complete robot rather than improve one area at the expense of another.
How did Bubbles perform at the North Bay event?
Bubbles completed qualification matches with a 10–2 record and ranked second among the competing teams.
The team advanced through the playoffs and finished as a District Event Finalist alongside FRC Team 610 Crescent Coyotes and FRC Team 6864 GryphTech Robotics.
The strong competitive result showed that the robot’s engineering solutions were not only thoughtful on paper. They were reliable and effective under real match conditions.
The event also brought important recognition beyond the robot. Ryan Zhang was selected as a District Championship FIRST Leadership Award Semi-Finalist, celebrating his technical leadership, mentorship, outreach, and contributions to the FIRST community.
Together, the finalist result, engineering award, and leadership recognition made North Bay an unforgettable event for the team.
Why is this award meaningful for a student-led FRC team?
Bubbles was competing in only its second FRC season.
The team was founded with the belief that students should take real ownership of the engineering process. Mentors provide guidance, safety oversight, technical feedback, and support, but students are responsible for learning, researching, designing, building, programming, testing, documenting, presenting, and improving the robot.
The Excellence in Engineering Award is powerful recognition of that model.
It shows that students can do more than follow instructions or assemble a design created for them. When young people are trusted with meaningful responsibility, they can investigate difficult problems, make engineering decisions, learn from failure, and create sophisticated systems together.
The award recognized the knowledge and work behind the finished robot, including the questions students asked, the options they considered, the failures they analyzed, and the improvements they made.
How did North Bay shape the rest of Bubbles’ season?
The North Bay event became a turning point in Bubbles’ 2026 season.
After earning the Excellence in Engineering Award and finishing as an event finalist, the team advanced to the FIRST Ontario Provincial Championship. There, Bubbles received the Industrial Design Award, while Ryan Zhang was named a FIRST Leadership Award Finalist.
The team then represented Aurora and Canada at the FIRST Championship in Houston for the second consecutive year (NewkarketToday).
These later achievements built on the same foundation recognized in North Bay: student ownership, integrated engineering, practical problem-solving, careful documentation, and continuous improvement.
We are beyond proud of FRC Team 10015 Bubbles.
This award recognizes more than a robot. It recognizes students who learned, questioned, designed, manufactured, programmed, tested, documented, and improved together.
FRC can be student-led. When young people are trusted with real responsibility, they can build more than robots. They can build confidence, capability, and the future.
Tags:
Excellence in Engineering Award, Littelfuse, FRC Team 10015, Bubbles, FIRST Ontario North Bay Event, Ryan Zhang, student-led robotics, engineering process, District Event Finalist, FIRST Robotics Competition, Aurora robotics, Ontario robotics, STEM education