Hold on, because this one is going to make you SO proud! Thirteen high school students from Cape Town are gearing up to represent South Africa at the FIRST Tech Challenge World Championships in Texas.
Cape Town, South Africa (18 March 2026) – The Hyperion Bots team from Parklands College will be competing internationally in less than two months, alongside thousands of the best student robotics teams on the entire planet!
It’s their second year in a row qualifying for Worlds, and they’re only in their second competitive season. These kids are just 14 to 17 years old! Beyond the robots, what they’re doing to expand STEM opportunities for younger students in South Africa is incredible.
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The team behind Hyperion Bots might still be school-goers, but they’re serious about robotics. They design, build and program all of their seriously competitive robots from scratch. That includes mechanical design, programming, automation and strategy. On top of that, they manage their own outreach, sponsorship and business operations. Those are skills that most of us adults are still figuring out!
Their mission, ‘Engineering the future, today’ encourages young people to explore robotics, engineering and technology. What’s more, they want to show that it’s possible. Through visiting other schools, mentorship programmes and outreach, they’re opening doors for young South Africans who may never have thought a career in tech was possible for someone like them.
“Seeing is believing. Maybe if they can see it, they will know they can do it,” says team captain Isabella Ankiah.
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This Dog Saw Humanity at Its Cruellest – Then Came a Little Girl With R15One of their main initiatives is #FIRSTLikeAGirl. It empowers young girls to overcome cultural pressures and follow their dreams in science, technology, engineering and mathematics!
The team runs regular social media campaigns and webinars spotlighting real women in STEM, including CEOs, directors, trainers, and inspiring individuals from all kinds of backgrounds. The whole point is to show young girls that you can be fun, feminine, brilliant and a total leader in science and technology. It’s not just for the boys, or for people with privilege, but for anyone who dreams it!
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The Hyperion Bots are also running a professional development programme which is a first for South Africa. It’s focused on training 48 local coaches and mentors to equip community leaders and educators to start and run their own robotics teams, teach real engineering skills, and create inclusive spaces where the next generation of STEM professionals can grow.
One team sparks dozens of coaches, who then reach hundreds of kids. That’s the kind of ripple effect that we love to see!
And now, they’re heading to the Worlds for a second time. They really put in the work to get there.
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At the South African National Championships held at the Amazon offices in Cape Town, they went up against the country’s top 23 robotics teams and came out 3rd place overall in the Robot Games.
They also walked away with an Inspire Award, the single highest honour in the competition. It recognises excellence across engineering design, robot performance, innovation, documentation, teamwork AND community impact. Earlier in the season, they’d already won the Inspire Award at the Regional Championships too, competing as a Finalist Alliance team.
Out of hundreds of teams competing in the FIRST Tech Challenge around the world, making it to the World Championships is a big deal. Doing it twice, in your first two seasons, as a team of high schoolers, is something to be so proud of.
Oh, and did we mention? In both seasons, the team has been led by a girl.
“Being a captain has nothing to do with being a girl. Leadership is not defined by gender. I am proud to lead, proud to represent women in STEM and proud to challenge every stereotype that says we cannot. I do not lead to prove we belong. I lead, knowing we always have.” says Isabella.
Hyperion Bots heads to Houston at the end of April. South Africa will be cheering them on every step of the way. And somewhere out there, a young girl is going to read this story and start to believe that she can do it too.
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