FRC Team 10015 Bubbles Finishes as North Bay District Event Finalist
FRC Team 10015 Bubbles finished as a District Event Finalist at the 2026 ONT District North Bay Event after ranking second with a 10–2 qualification record. Competing alongside FRC Team 610 Crescent Coyotes and FRC Team 6864 GryphTech Robotics, Bubbles advanced through the playoffs and completed an unforgettable weekend of competition, engineering, teamwork, and student leadership (FRC-Event).
By SolversMind Robotics
Published March 22, 2026 | Updated July 17, 2026
Event Result: District Event Finalist
Reviewed by mentors of FRC Team 10015 Bubbles
How did Bubbles become a North Bay District Event Finalist?
FRC Team 10015 Bubbles finished as a District Event Finalist at the 2026 ONT District North Bay Event after ranking second in qualification matches with a 10–2 record. Bubbles competed alongside FRC Team 610 Crescent Coyotes and FRC Team 6864 GryphTech Robotics in a playoff alliance that advanced to the event finals (FRC-Event). The result was a major competitive milestone for a community-based team competing in only its second FRC season. It reflected months of student-led work across CAD, mechanical design, manufacturing, electrical integration, programming, testing, scouting, and drive-team strategy. North Bay also became one of the defining events in Bubbles’ young history: the team received the Excellence in Engineering Award sponsored by Littelfuse, while captain Ryan Zhang was named a District Championship FIRST Leadership Award Semi-Finalist. Together, these achievements demonstrated the team’s technical growth, resilience under pressure, and commitment to collaborative engineering.
How did Bubbles perform during qualification matches?
What an unforgettable weekend for FRC Team 10015 Bubbles!
The team completed its 12 qualification matches with an outstanding 10–2 record and ranked second among the 25 teams competing at the North Bay event. The result placed Bubbles near the top of a strong field of Ontario FRC teams and positioned the team for a deep playoff run.
Every match challenged the students to evaluate the robot’s performance, adapt their strategy, communicate clearly, and make decisions under pressure. The drive team worked closely with scouts, programmers, mechanical students, and alliance partners to prepare for different opponents and field situations.
The robot’s success was not the result of one subsystem. It came from the combined work behind the entire machine, including:
CAD and mechanical design
Manufacturing and assembly
Electrical integration
Robot and autonomous programming
Testing and troubleshooting
Scouting and match analysis
Drive-team practice and strategy
Who competed with Bubbles in the playoff alliance?
Bubbles was honoured to compete alongside two outstanding alliance partners:
FRC Team 610 Crescent Coyotes
FRC Team 6864 GryphTech Robotics
Together, the three teams advanced through the playoffs and finished as District Event Finalists. FIRST’s official event record recognizes all three teams with the finalist award.
One of the greatest strengths of FIRST Robotics Competition is that success is built through collaboration. Alliance partners must quickly learn one another’s strengths, develop a shared strategy, communicate between matches, and support each other through every challenge.
We are grateful to Crescent Coyotes and GryphTech Robotics for their professionalism, teamwork, and competitive spirit. Competing together made the North Bay finals an experience our students will always remember.
What made this achievement meaningful for a young team?
Reaching the finals was an important milestone for Bubbles because 2026 was only the team’s second FRC season.
FRC requires students to solve complex technical problems while managing limited time, materials, resources, and competition pressure. Students must design and manufacture a large robot, integrate its mechanical and electrical systems, develop reliable software, prepare autonomous routines, analyze match data, and communicate their engineering process.
At Bubbles, students take meaningful ownership of this work. Mentors provide safety supervision, technical guidance, and feedback, but students are responsible for researching, designing, building, programming, testing, documenting, and operating the robot.
The North Bay result demonstrated how quickly the students had grown as engineers, programmers, strategists, communicators, and leaders. Every difficult match gave them another opportunity to think critically, respond calmly, and improve together.
These skills extend far beyond the competition field.
What other recognition did Bubbles receive in North Bay?
The Finalist result was only one part of an extraordinary event.
Bubbles also received the Excellence in Engineering Award sponsored by Littelfuse, recognizing the integrated engineering solutions behind the team’s robot. The official FIRST awards record confirms both the engineering award and the team’s finalist recognition.
Team captain Ryan Zhang was also named a District Championship FIRST Leadership Award Semi-Finalist. This recognition celebrated his technical contributions, mentorship, outreach, team leadership, and commitment to advancing the mission and values of FIRST.
Together, these achievements represented three different dimensions of the team:
Strong competitive performance
Excellence in student-led engineering
Meaningful student leadership
North Bay became one of the defining moments of the 2026 season and strengthened the team’s path toward the FIRST Ontario Provincial Championship.
How did North Bay shape the rest of Bubbles’ season?
The North Bay event gave Bubbles valuable competition experience, confidence, and momentum.
The students left the event proud of their finalist finish, but also aware that there was more work to do. They continued reviewing match performance, improving the robot, strengthening its reliability, and preparing for the next level of competition.
Bubbles later competed at the FIRST Ontario Provincial Championship, where the team received the Industrial Design Award and 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.
The success that followed was built on the same qualities demonstrated in North Bay: student ownership, practical engineering, teamwork, resilience, and continuous improvement.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to our alliance partners, mentors, sponsors, volunteers, families, and the entire FIRST community for believing in our students and supporting this journey.
Most importantly, congratulations to every member of FRC Team 10015 Bubbles.
Your dedication, resilience, and teamwork continue to show what student-led engineering can achieve.
Tags:
District Event Finalist, FRC Team 10015, Bubbles, FRC Team 610, Crescent Coyotes, FRC Team 6864, GryphTech Robotics, North Bay District Event, Ryan Zhang, Excellence in Engineering Award, FIRST Leadership Award, student-led robotics, FIRST Robotics Competition, Ontario robotics, Aurora robotics