FIRST Global Team Moldova has won the FIRST Global Challenge 2026 in Incheon, Republic of Korea, securing one gold and two silver medals at the international robotics competition, which organisers said brings together national teams from nearly 190 countries.
Moldova won gold as part of the tournament’s winning alliance alongside Uzbekistan, Venezuela and El Salvador. It also received a silver medal for the engineering design of its robot and another silver for its “Ember Mesh” innovation project.
The Moldovan national team was represented by ENIGMA, a team with roots in the village of Boșcana, Criuleni district. Four of the five student members — Uliana Vîntu, Gabriel Josan, Valeria Untila and Augustin Leșan — attend the “Mihai Stratulat” Theoretical High School in Boșcana. Daniel Țanga, from the “Boris Dinga” Theoretical High School in Criuleni, completed the student team.
The students were mentored by Elena Frunza, from the Boșcana school, and Veronica Eșanu, coordinator of the National Educational Robotics Program and a mentor with the Innovate Moldova Programme. ENIGMA was selected to represent Moldova following its performance at the 2026 FIRST Tech Challenge Moldova National Championship.
According to the release, the team’s innovation project, Ember Mesh, is a network of autonomous sensor capsules designed to detect forest fires early beneath the tree canopy, where aerial monitoring can be less effective. The capsules transmit environmental data to a monitoring platform and can be deployed by drones or helicopters in remote and difficult-to-access areas.
Ember Mesh advanced to the final round of the FIRST Global New Technology Experience and received the silver FIRST Global Innovator Award, the release said.
The result adds to Moldova’s record at the competition since joining in 2017. The release said Moldova entered the 2026 event atop FIRST Global’s all-time gold-medal ranking with eight gold medals, with the latest win bringing the total to nine. It also listed previous medals including bronze in 2018, three golds in 2019, gold in 2022, gold and silver in 2023, two golds in 2024, and gold plus an honourable mention in 2025.
The release linked Moldova’s performance to investment in educational robotics through its National Educational Robotics Program, launched in 2014 as the RoboClub pilot. It said the programme has grown to more than 270 robotics clubs in schools and libraries and has engaged more than 60,000 students.
Support for the team’s preparation and participation came from multiple organisations, including Moldova’s Ministry of Education and Research and the National Agency for Curriculum and Evaluation; the Innovate Moldova Programme, funded by Sweden and the United Kingdom and implemented by the Foundation for Development of the Republic of Moldova; Premier Energy Distribution; the Technical University of Moldova and FabLab Chișinău; and Ozonteh, according to the release.
