Representing Macedonia at the Robotics Olympics:
Meet The National Team by Jakov Spirovski
Every year, as the competition season rolls around, the excitement in our workspace is impossible to ignore. We are the team that represents Macedonia on the biggest robotics stage in the world. As a closely connected group of mentors and 14 to 18 year old students, we carry a unique kind of weight on our shoulders, the responsibility of showcasing our country’s talent, innovation, and culture to the rest of the globe.
But if you were to walk into one of our build sessions, you probably would not see a tense or highly stressed environment. As a team, we purposely keep things relaxed and outgoing. We strongly believe that prioritizing team chemistry is the secret ingredient to a good robot. When everyone feels comfortable and supported, creativity has the space it needs to truly grow. Guiding all of this is Jakov, our main organizer and the official partner with FIRST Global in Macedonia, who leads the charge in bringing the national team together and turning these big ideas into reality.
What is FIRST Global?
If you are not familiar with FIRST Global, the easiest way to picture it is as the Olympic Games for robotics.
It is a massive, annual international robotics challenge that brings together high school students from over 190 countries. But it is about much more than just wires, motors, and code. FIRST Global is designed to start a passion for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) across the world, framing these fields as the ultimate tools for solving global issues. Instead of a traditional open tournament, the competition is built around a 3v3 alliance format. This means we constantly have to team up, communicate, and strategize with other nations to win matches.
FGC Panama 2025 Experience
Our time competing in Panama was, simply put, unforgettable. It was a beautiful mixing of cultures in the best way possible.
Having the chance to meet people from over 190 different countries completely changes how you see the world. We spent a ton of time hanging out and swapping stories with Team Norway, proving that robotics is just as much about building international friendships as it is about engineering. We also learned so much just by talking with other teams about how they built their robots and solved the same problems we were facing.
When it came time to hit the arena, Panama was our opportunity to showcase everything we had worked so hard on back home. We were incredibly proud to secure 32nd place in the individual rankings against a massive and highly competitive global field. On top of our performance in the arena, we also took home two major honors: the Social Media Award and the Cinematic Video Award. The entire event was an amazing mix of diverse cultures, late night strategy sessions, and very important lessons that we have carried forward into our current designs.
Biggest Achievements so Far
While Panama was a fantastic showing for our media and individual ranking, our most significant competitive achievement to date happened at the Geneva 2022 FIRST Global Challenge.
Because the matches are always 3v3, your ability to collaborate with your alliance partners is just as important as the robot you built. You have to make quick decisions and trust each other completely. In Geneva, everything clicked perfectly. We fought our way to securing 3rd place overall as an alliance. Standing on that podium and knowing our team had played a critical role in one of the top three alliances in the entire world was an amazing milestone. It proved that a small team from Macedonia can compete with the absolute best, and it remains our proudest achievement.
Our Struggles with Sponsorships
Getting to that global stage, however, is not easy. And right now, we are facing a reality that many local tech projects struggle with a lack of resources.
As we gear up for the 2026 FIRST Global Challenge in South Korea, any kind of financial support or sponsorship will help us out a great deal. When people hear the word sponsorship, they often think of plane tickets, but our actual needs hit much closer to home. We need funding for the fundamental preparations. Building a robot from scratch requires specific materials, components, to help us recreate and build the playing field. We also need a dedicated and equipped space to actually build and test our robot safely.
We are proudly carrying the Macedonian flag on a world stage, proving that our youth can compete with the best engineers from across the globe. But doing this with very little backing is incredibly difficult. We believe our country's talent deserves the right tools to succeed.
Looking Forward
Our goals do not stop when the international competitions end. We have a clear, long term vision for the future of robotics right here at home.
Ultimately, we want to implement the FIRST Tech Challenge in Macedonia. By establishing local competitions, we can give countless more students the chance to experience the thrill of building a robot and solving complex problems. Beyond that, our ultimate goal is to grow into the central hub for STEM and robotics in the country. We want to be the place where the next generation of Macedonian innovators gets their start.
We have the talent, the chemistry, and the drive. Now, we are just looking for the partners who want to help us build the future.
If you are interested in supporting our journey, contact us via email or any of our social media platforms, and you might as well check out our website, while you are still here!
Socials:
INSTAGRAM: @fgc.macedonia
EMAIL: firstglobalmacedonia@gmail.com
Facebook: @fgcmacedonia
