Pausing Robotics & turkey for 2026

We are pausing Robotics & turkey Conference (R&t) for 2026 as FIRST LEGO League (FLL) enters its final season.  R&t’s co-developers, Lesleyann Samuel, Nicola Williams, and Robert Jones, will consider restarting R&t after we understand FIRST’s new technology platform which is scheduled for release in April 2027.

After almost 30 years of partnership, FIRST announced on March 19, 2026 that LEGO Education had decided not to renew their partnership agreement and that FLL would end in 2027.  That partnership dissolution announcement occurred two months after FIRST and LEGO Education jointly announced a 2-year migration of FLL’s technology platform from LEGO Education’s SPIKE sets to LEGO Education’s new Computer Science & AI sets.

While FIRST actively develops its own K-8 program offering for 2027 and beyond, FIRST has pledged compatibility of the current LEGO Education SPIKE sets (Prime and Essential) through the 2028-29 season.  However, LEGO Education ceased selling SPIKE as of June 30, 2026.  Therefore, understanding FIRST’s new technology platform to be released in April 2027 is key for maintaining streamlined execution of R&t.

When Robotics & turkey restarts in 2027, it will continue to:

·         be an annual international 3-day youth robotics conference to improve robotics team performance in upcoming qualifying tournaments; and

·         target both rookie and experienced team members (4th-8th grade), coaches, parents, and sponsors.

R&t's goals are to:

·         improve team performance in qualifying tournaments upcoming in a month or two

·         foster coopertition (cooperative competition)

·         provide memorable experience that hooks students and parents to STEM careers and lifestyles; and

·         improve coaching capacity and capability.

R&t’s international community will maintain communication and the sharing of best practices mainly via its WhatsApp chat.  We have rich relationships developed over 3 consecutive conferences in 2023, 2024 and 2025 that we should continue to grow.   Jamaican teams have the opportunity to do first-time innovation projects this season.  All teams can leverage experts from 2024’s “submerged” conference for this season’s biodiversity theme.  Teams that elect to adopt LEGO Education’s new Computer Science & AI sets can share their experiences with the rest of us.   I (Robert Jones) will continue to coach my team, Bronx EFKs, in its 12th season using existing SPIKE Prime sets.

Major thanks to our two supporting sponsors, New York Solar Energy Society and the Union of Jamaican Alumni Associations (USA) Inc., as well as our many donors who have been critical to the undertaking of R&t.  We’ll call on you next year for assistance for the 2027 conference.

Finally, I was attracted to FIRST 12 years ago as I felt its competitive robotics offered the highest return on invested time for young students in grades 4-8 in developing key, life-long skills:  problem solving, communicating, and team-building.  Can FIRST maintain its compelling attraction?   Can FIRST do so at a reasonable price?  We’ll know by April 2027.