Japan’s only and fifth attempt at the world championships!
SAKURA Tempesta, a junior high and high school student organization run by the non-profit organization SAKURA Tempesta(located in Wakaba-ku, Chiba City; President: Yuki Terasaki), has received the Engineering Inspiration Award” at the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Minnesota Regional held at the end of March 2025. SAKURA Tempesta won the “Engineering Inspiration Award” at the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Minnesota Regional held at the end of March 2025, for their outstanding success in further increasing respect and appreciation for engineering in their school, organization and community.
This is the fifth time for SAKURA Tempesta to advance to the world championships, and the only one among the six Japanese teams to qualify for the FIRST Championship (World Championship) to be held in Houston, U.S., from April 16 to 19, 2025.
Reasons for the award and main initiatives
SAKURA Tempesta has been promoting the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC), which is smaller in scale than FRC and easier to deploy in schools, as a bridge activity for the spread of FRC since FY2024.
In addition, the FRC/FTC Japan Community, in which the entire FRC/FTC team in Japan participates, has been operating to support other teams in Japan. The Engineering Inspiration Award was given to the FRC/FTC Japan Community in recognition of the impact it has had on the Japanese FIRST community and society.
Future Prospects and Plans
By winning the “Engineering Inspiration Award” this time, SAKURA Tempesta will participate in the world championship “FIRST Championship” to be held in Houston, USA from April 16 to 19, 2025. While steadily preparing for the World Championships, SAKURA Tempesta will focus its efforts on promoting FRC and FTC in Japan and strengthening the FRC/FTC Japan Community.
About SAKURA Tempesta, a junior high and high school student organization
SAKURA Tempesta, a junior high and high school student organization, was established in 2017 and is based in Chiba, Japan. Currently, about 30 junior and senior high school students belong to the group, which participates in global robotics competitions such as the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) and the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC). The group has won numerous awards and has participated in the world championships four times.
About SAKURA Tempesta, a non-profit organization
A Chiba Prefecture-based non-profit organization, with the vision of “creating a society where people can enjoy change,” it is involved in STEAM popularization activities, such as running the junior high and high school student group “SAKURA Tempesta” and holding STEAM workshops and events. In recent years, he has also focused on promoting the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) and the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC).
Conducting Crowdfunding
In order to participate in the FIRST Championship (World Championship), we will need to pay $5750 (approx. 850,000 yen) for the World Championship and 200,000 yen/person for travel to Houston.
Accordingly, we are conducting a crowdfunding campaign on “GoFundMe” for people overseas, and we would appreciate your support.
International Crowdfunding URL: https://gofund.me/8585704e
We are currently preparing a crowdfunding campaign for the Japanese audience, so please wait for a while for more details. We will inform you of the details when it is released.
