Team FSM ended its second day at the 2026 FIRST Global Challenge with two consecutive wins, as students from Pohnpei continued representing the Federated States of Micronesia in Incheon, South Korea.
On October 9, the team joined Finland and American Samoa in a three-country alliance that won 189–36. In their next match, the students partnered with Vanuatu and Turkmenistan for a 240–155 victory. The two wins followed three losses earlier in the day, bringing FSM’s record to three wins and six losses through nine matches. See FIRST Global’s official results.
Our new 60-second video follows all five matches and offers a closer look at FSM’s robot in action—including a climb with the light-blue FSM flag visible on the machine.
Footage: FIRST Global. Highlights edited for Habele.
This year’s game, Igniting Innovation, draws on the challenge of preventing and responding to wildfires. In each two-and-a-half-minute match, six robots compete in two alliances of three teams. Orange balls represent wildfire, and robots move them into scoring areas. Climbing inclined braces increases an alliance’s score, while shared objectives reward cooperation across all six teams.
The new footage makes that climbing challenge easier to see. During Match 219, the official broadcast follows FSM’s robot up the blue alliance brace. In the final match of the day, the commentator identifies Micronesia’s robot as it reaches the top of the red brace.
Through nine matches, FSM had been paired with 18 different teams. Each new alliance asks the students to coordinate with new partners while putting their engineering and programming skills to work under time pressure.
Habele designed and donated the team’s shirts, including additional shirts the team could sell to friends, family and community members to raise funds. We’re also helping share the students’ story, from their first-day win through the latest matches. The students and their local educators have done the work of preparing for this international competition.
Two more ranking matches are scheduled for October 10, the event’s final day. We’re cheering for Team FSM as the students take their robot—and the skills they have built—to the field once again.