On August 25, 2026, local robotics organization DadliBots from St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda, announced a groundbreaking milestone for the nation’s youth STEM community: the formation of the country’s first all-female national robotics team, set to compete at the 2026 FIRST Global Challenge held in Incheon, Republic of Korea, from October 7 to 10.
The five-member team brings together sharp, passionate young innovators, each with a clearly defined role to propel their project forward: Hannah Masson serves as team leader, Audella-Mae James takes on lead engineering responsibilities, Sidea Ambrose is the team’s lead driver, Gyanna Ryan leads programming work, and Neola Noronha handles lead inventory management. Beyond the competitive arena, this historic selection represents a major leap forward for youth robotics development in Antigua and Barbuda, and sends a resounding message to girls across the nation and the broader Caribbean region: STEM, technology, and engineering are fields where they belong and can thrive.
Elijah James, team mentor at DadliBots, emphasized that the impact of this team extends far beyond the competition itself. “When other young girls see this team representing our country, they will be able to see what they themselves can achieve,” James explained. “No matter what path they choose for the future – whether it’s engineering, architecture, medicine, coding, esports, or an entirely different field – the confidence to create, experiment, and solve problems will open doors they may not even imagine yet.”
The FIRST Global Challenge is a premier annual, Olympics-style international robotics competition that gathers more than 180 teams of high school-aged innovators from across the globe. Since its founding in 2017, the event has leveraged robotics as a unifying platform to foster cross-border international collaboration, while challenging young innovators to apply cutting-edge science and technology to address some of the world’s most urgent societal and environmental challenges.
This year’s competition theme centers on the growing global crisis of wildfires, tasking teams with exploring how technology and innovation can improve every stage of wildfire management, from prevention and early detection to emergency response and post-fire community recovery. For Team Antigua and Barbuda, this theme hits close to home: the nation already grapples with regular wildfire events, ranging from seasonal bush fires to recurring blazes at the Cooks sanitary landfill. As they develop their robot, the team is examining how emerging technologies – including connected sensors, automated monitoring systems, advanced robotics, and big data analytics – could help local communities identify wildfire risks earlier and mount more effective emergency responses.
DadliBots has a long track record of representing Antigua and Barbuda at the FIRST Global Challenge, starting in 2018. The organization also runs popular local initiatives including the BRIGHT Hack Challenge and TechByte STEM Camp. This year’s selection of an all-female team marks a new, transformative chapter in the organization’s work, and aligns with the goals of H.O.W. with Halo – Hope, Opportunity and Well-being through STEM, a new collaborative initiative developed with the Halo Foundation and The LocaL App. The program aims to expand accessible pathways for young people, especially girls, to pursue future-focused STEM education in Antigua and Barbuda.
For the five student innovators heading to Incheon, the journey is about far more than just building a competition robot. As official STEM ambassadors for their small island nation, they will gain invaluable opportunities to collaborate with young people from every corner of the globe, exchange cultural perspectives and cutting-edge ideas, build lasting international friendships, and showcase the ingenuity and potential of youth from small developing states on one of the world’s largest youth innovation stages.
In the weeks leading up to their departure for South Korea, the team is working diligently to design, build, program, and test their competition robot, while also carrying out community outreach activities to inspire more local youth to explore STEM. Members of the public are invited to follow the team’s progress, and businesses, organizations, and individual donors interested in supporting the team’s competition trip and the continued expansion of youth STEM programs across Antigua and Barbuda are encouraged to reach out to get involved.