LA robotics team starts 25th season

(The Center Square) – Culver City High School’s California-based robotics team - known as the Bagel Bytes - has begun its 25th season of competition with this year's challenge for students around the world to build robotics that “re-imagine the past.” FIRST, or For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, an international organization that combines competitive robotics with mentorship, launched its 2026 robotics competition season in January. Over 93,000 high school students across 35 countries participated in the 2025 FIRST Robotics Competition season, with more than 3,400 teams competing worldwide as of 2024. This year’s game, titled REBUILT, requires teams to design robots capable of scoring yellow chips into a hub and navigating a three-bar metal climbing structure known as the Tower. The Center Square got an exclusive interview with FIRST Robotics Competition Team 702, the Bagel Bytes, at Culver City High School in the Los Angeles area. Dennis Paniza, a U.S. Air Forc