The roots of Biome Robotics were planted in back in 2011 when a group of middle school students from around the Triangle area started a FIRST LEGO League team called the TundraBots. Those students went on to compete in FIRST Tech Challenge all the way through high school .

When a FIRST Tech Challenge team initially registers with FIRST they are assigned a team number which the team will keep as long as the team is active. The TundraBots team number is FTC#7083. In 2020, TundraBots sponsored a new FTC team, FTC#18190 TaigaBots, to help younger students become familiar with the program and learn basic building, programming, fabrication, and project management skills. In 2021 a third developmental team was started, FTC#20260 DeltaBots. Finally, in 2024 FTC#24260 Out Of the Blue joined us after a very successful rookie year. Interest from the community continues to grow, and Biome Robotics would like to continue to serve the STEM education needs of the Triangle community by recruiting adult mentors and coaches, upgrading equipment for its students, and starting additional teams. To facilitate additional growth, Biome Robotics applied for and was granted 501(c)(3) status by the IRS in 2023.

Biome Robotics students have always been dedicated to sharing their passion for designing and competing with robots with the wider student community in the Raleigh-Durham area through numerous outreach efforts at schools, libraries, museums, and special events. We believe that the best ambassadors for students are other students!

Biome Robotics replicates the environment that students will encounter in the real world through project-based problem-solving in diverse teams of students. FIRST (an acronym of “For the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology”) is an international non-profit started in 1989 for the express purpose of instilling a passion for STEM in students around the world by designing, administering, and promoting robotics competitions.

Competitively, Biome Robotics teams have had a fair amount of success, winning multiple awards at various North Carolina Qualifying Tournaments, appearances at multiple North Carolina State Championship Tournaments, being part of the winning alliances at three NC State Championships (2015, 2017, 2024), and qualification for the FIRST World Championship in Houston, TX in 2017. 

Since 2011, 44 students from 7th through 12th grades participated on a Biome Robotics team and 13 of them are known to have pursued a STEM pathway post-graduation. This is a fraction of the impact that Biome Robotics can have on the students who will be the future workforce for companies throughout the Triangle region and beyond. Team alumni have said that it’s the hardest fun they ever had, with the program often having a lasting impact on their lives.