Barrington-Area Robotics Team advances to world championship

Posted March 23, 2026 1:41 pm

Submitted by Kelley Berlin

A student robotics team from the Barrington area is headed to the international stage after earning the top honor at the Illinois FIRST Tech Challenge competition.

Stealth Robotics, based in South Barrington, recently won the State Inspire Award, the program’s highest recognition. The award is presented to the team that best exemplifies excellence across all aspects of the competition, including robot design, innovation, community outreach, and teamwork, while demonstrating FIRST’s core value of “gracious professionalism.”

With the win, Stealth Robotics has qualified for the FIRST Championship, an international robotics competition taking place in Houston this April. The event brings together thousands of students from around the world to compete and showcase their engineering and programming skills.

In addition to success in competition, the team has made a significant impact in the community. This season, Stealth Robotics helped launch two new FIRST robotics teams, an all-girls FIRST Tech Challenge team and a new FIRST LEGO League team, expanding opportunities for more students to explore robotics and engineering.

Team members also participated in more than 30 outreach events, engaging nearly 12,000 people throughout the community and introducing students to STEM opportunities.

The team’s efforts have also extended internationally. Stealth Robotics recently connected with students in India, providing school supplies to support their robotics efforts and helping them launch a robotics team next year.

Recognizing the challenges students sometimes face when transitioning between robotics programs, the team also created the Stealth Flight Academy, a mentorship initiative designed to help students move from FIRST LEGO League to the more advanced FIRST Tech Challenge program.

Stealth Robotics has also worked to inspire younger learners through hands-on experiences, hosting a robotics training camp for children at a local hospital and donating $3,000 in LEGO kits to encourage young patients to explore STEM.

As the team prepares to travel to Houston for the world championship, they are currently seeking community sponsorships to help cover travel and competition expenses.

For more information about the team or to learn how to support their trip to the FIRST Championship, visit stealth-robotics.org.