FIRST Team 5985

Create Opportunity; Transform the Community!

FIRST Team 5985, Project Bucephalus, is an Australian team that competes in the FIRST Robotics Competition.

 

What is 5985?

OPEN

FRC Team 5985 is an independent, community team based in the city of Wollongong, NSW. The team is open to all students from any school, and also includes a sizeable contingent of home-schooled students.

The team first came together to play FIRST Stronghold in 2016, with 17 students and 7 mentors gathering for their rookie year. The 2025 team consists of 44 students from 20 High Schools, working with 17 mentors.

 

DIVERSE

5985 welcomes all, and the open nature of the team is reflected in its makeup:

  • 5985 takes pride in achieving over a 50% female membership, balanced throughout all leadership and operations aspects of the team.
  • Team members come from all academic backgrounds, including Public, Private, Selective and Home-Schooled students.
  • The team structure prevents money being an obstacle to individual participation. As a result, students come from all financial backgrounds and work hard to fund their team.
  • Through Support and Education, 5985 provides an environment that allows students with mental, emotional and physical challenges to thrive – over 70% of the team have a diagnosed disability or disorder!
  • Whilst FRC is aimed at students of high-school age, mentors can be of any age. 5985 mentors include team alumni and range from University students to retired engineers!

 

ACHIEVEMENT

From a background of shoestring budgets, hand-tools and recycled parts 5985 has risen to become an award-winning team in both Australian and International competition. This culminated in the team being named Impact Winners at the 2025 FIRST World Championships – the single highest award in the entire global FIRST program. Now a member of the FIRST Hall of Fame, 5985 stands amongst the giants.

Reflecting that FRC is “more than robots” many of the team’s awards are built on their work in education and outreach. The team takes great pride in:

  • Being only the 4th Hall Of Fame team outside the USA in 32 years.
  • Being named Impact Award Finalists at the 2023, 2024 and 2025 FIRST World Championships.
  • Winning the Engineering Inspiration award for the Turing Division at the 2022 FIRST World Championships.
  • Receiving the Regional Impact Award (formerly the Chairman’s Award) eight times in the nine years we have been eligible.
  • Being captain of the winning alliance at two Australian Regionals.
  • Four mentors with the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award.
  • Eight students nominated as Dean’s List Finalists, with one named as an awardee at the FIRST World Championships!
  • Multiple awards for Entrepreneurship and Design

A full list of 5985 achievements (including our Impact Videos) can be found in our Team History, or by visiting the 5985 history on The Blue Alliance. A listing of our 2025 Impact materials can be found at our Hall Of Fame page.

 

TEACHING

5985 is a team of teachers, with students providing STEM education to children and adults around the world. Our Teaching Program is extensive – every day of the school week, at least one 5985-taught class is in session! This program has reached nearly 10,000 students since 2015.

The Teaching program includes special programs to fill gaps in STEM opportunity. These include:

  • Rocketing Girls Into Robotics: a free robotics class run by girls, for girls.
  • Unlimited: a grant-driven program that allows Project Bucephalus to run LEGO robotics classes in Special Education classes and Schools across the Illawarra and Southern Highlands.
  • Unstoppable: a partnership with The Flagstaff Group and Flametree to deliver a fully-funded FRC program to divert students from criminal or anti-social behaviour.
  • FIRST Scouts: working with Scouts Australia to add a STEM component to the Youth Program, particularly via participation in the FIRST LEGO League.

 

OUTREACH

From beaches to the bush and pre-schools to nursing homes, 5985 creates STEM opportunity and education. The team has run hundreds of hours of displays and demonstrations across NSW. Contact Us if you have an idea of an event where we could appear!

 

RESULTS

5985 has adopted the ethos of Dean Kamen (founder of FIRST) “It’s not about the robots. We’re not using kids to build robots—we’re using robots to build kids.” 

When joining 5985, students are welcomed into a group of their peers with a goal of encouragement and improvement. To many, the workshop becomes the place where they feel safe and happy – and are then free to achieve great things.

In this team, the ultimate success is judged by the positive effect on the students as we build capabilities and careers. 100% of 5985 alumni have gone on to tertiary education, taking up STEM degrees at University or TAFE or starting Engineering cadetships. Many of these students would never have considered STEM as a career before joining the team.