Five high school students from the Virgin Islands are departing for Incheon, South Korea, to compete in the 2026 FIRST Global Challenge, an Olympics-style robotics competition drawing more than 190 national teams worldwide.
The squad. Christopher Robinson, Nicholas Joseph, Stephon Jainauth, Caleb Stoutt and Ricardo Seebaran, will take part from 7 to 10 October. The competition marks the fourth straight year the Virgin Islands has sent a team to the event.
This year's challenge revolves around wildfire prevention, mitigation and recovery. Competitors will engineer and code robots to work through a simulated setting while investigating how technology can lower wildfire dangers, safeguard populations and build environmental resilience.
The Virgin Islands' performance has strengthened markedly over recent competitions. When the territory first entered the FIRST Global Challenge in Singapore in 2023, Team BVI finished 143rd among 191 teams. In 2024, competing in Athens, Greece, the ranking improved to 111th out of 180 teams. The most recent outing in Panama in 2025 brought the strongest result: 42nd place globally, and first among all participating Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States nations.
The Ministry of Education, Youth Affairs and Sports attributed the upward trajectory to expanded robotics and coding instruction across the Virgin Islands school system and growing chances for students to test themselves in international competition.
Three corporate sponsors have backed the team's journey: Harneys, Exness and NAGICO. The ministry wished the students success and called on the community to track their progress during the competition.
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