Culver City High School’s 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.
Robotics Coach Dennis Paniza noted that “Being part of the [Robotics] team will teach how to communicate, and teach you about a lot of tools…not just business, not just technical … all that and more.”
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, the field continues to grow.
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. Awards are scored on a wide variety of standards, from engineering to ‘gracious professionalism’ and the Bytes are waiting notification on their entries. The submission deadlines, which span from January through February, close on Feb. 12.
The team, which is sponsored by JPL, NASA, Culver City Educational Foundation, Culver City Rotary Club, Culver City Exchange Club, Pinnacle Industrial Supply, Culver City Unified School District, and Culver City High School, has been a place for uniquely creative minds for many years.
As Robotics students continue to design and create, the organizers at FIRST are cheering them on. “We get what we celebrate, and nominating people for these awards is a great way to celebrate their contributions. All of these submissions increased from last season, and [we] would love to see the number of submissions continue to increase this year!”
Culver Pride
Photo – Bagel Bytes in action
