Support Dread Pirate Robotics go to FTC World Championship!!

They already won their golden ticket. Now they have to figure out how to get there.

Everyone loves an underdog story, and there isn't a better underdog story than that of the Dread Pirates Robotics—a motley crew of 9 boys and girls from middle and high school who formed a community-based robotics team from Hampton Cove/Owens Cross Roads, AL. Somehow, this unlikely group of scallywags managed to WIN the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) Alabama State championship, in their first season of competition!

As a brand new team, they would meet twice a week starting in the summer of 2024 to start learning the basics of programming and building. They ended the year winning the robot game portion of the Alabama robotics championship at the Alabama FIRST Tech Challenge State Championship tournament, held on Feb 22, 2025 at New Century Technology High School in Huntsville, AL.

After winning state qualifying tournament #2, The Pirates came out on top of the 23 team roster at State, racking up 9 consecutive match wins without a loss through regulation play and the playoffs. The only team in the competition to do so! Along the way, posting the top 3 scores of the 2024/2025 season in Alabama. They beat several more established, experienced teams, including former champions.

The Dread Pirates finished the last two competitions with a win-loss record of 19-1. After State, their season performance ranked them in the top 9% among all FTC teams in the world! That would be more than 7,000 teams in over 60 countries.

How to explain it? Great coaching, for sure, from a core of three volunteer mentors. A simplistic robot design, dedicated parents, but mostly it was the Pirates themselves, and their commitment to learning the fine art of robotics. Which demanded long hours of work building, coding, chicken nugget runs, and steely nerves in a high school gym, packed with shouting spectators, and maybe most important, an unshakable confidence that would impress the most seasoned competitor.

Why should you care? As Alabama state winners, the Dread Pirates get an automatic invite to FTC's world championship in Houston, April 16-20, 2025, where the best robotics teams from around the globe compete to be the world's best. The entry fee alone is $2,500. The estimate to get the Pirates, coaches, their robot and equipment to Houston for five days is about $18,000. While some Pirate families might be able to absorb an extra expense of that magnitude, others simply can't. The Pirates have decided that everyone is going to Houston, or no one is.

The Dread Pirates and their parents will be hard at work brainstorming, knocking on doors, and soliciting local sponsors, but we can’t afford professional fundraisers. Every dollar will help, and that's why we're here. If you can contribute $5, $25, or even $1, you'll help this unlikely collection of young engineers step closer to achieving a dream that eight months ago wasn’t in the realm of possibility.

So, can the Dread Pirates make their mark in Houston? Most FTC teams outside of Alabama have years of experience, including world-class competitors from Romania, Taiwan, and Germany. But the Pirates aren’t just here to learn, they’re going to represent Alabama and compete. Houston is their chance to prove that rookies can be contenders, gaining experience while battling against the best. Join them as they set sail for Houston and help them storm the castle! ⚔️‍☠️

For more information, please visit on Instagram at dreadpiraterobotics_25751_ftc