About Us
Team Prototype 5449 is home to the Build Bridge initiative and the combined Canada–China FIRST teams inspired by the open-source practices of FTC Team 5449/12527 Prototype. We empower students to learn robotics through collaboration, innovation, and global community impact.
Meet Team 5449
Briefly and concisely explain what you do for your audience.
About Team Prototype 5449
Team Prototype is piloting an exciting new team structure this year: a multinational collaboration across Beijing, China and Vancouver, Canada. This setup brings together diverse strengths, resources, and perspectives, creating new opportunities for innovation and growth. We’re excited to see what we can achieve through this cross-continental collaboration and look forward to the possibilities ahead.
OUR MISSION
We build bridges — not just robots.
Mission Statement
The Build Bridge initiative connects students in Canada and China through FIRST Robotics programs, open-source engineering, and cross-border teamwork. Inspired by Prototype 5449/12527 and the Open Alliance culture, we share prototypes, tutorials, and season-long documentation so that more teams—especially new and resource-limited teams—can start strong and grow sustainably.
New Team Structure
Our program follows a cross-Pacific model: two locations, one unified team. Students in Canada and China co-design mechanisms, co-develop code, and co-lead outreach while competing at their local events. From strategy to CAD to autonomous routines, they work from the same open engineering process and learn to collaborate as a truly international team.
Impact
By combining Prototype’s open-source spirit with CARAT Lab’s education mission, we focus on impact beyond a single robot. Our students support rookie teams, share reproducible subsystems, document failures as well as successes, and run outreach projects such as LEGO donation drives, STEM workshops, and school partnerships that make robotics accessible to more communities.
12
seasons of FIRST & STEM experience
OUR APPROACH
Team 5449 is a youth-centred robotics and STEM education organization dedicated to inclusion, innovation, and cross-border collaboration. We develop future engineers and leaders through FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC), LEGO-based engineering, and open-source community projects.
Our philosophy is simple: learning happens best when knowledge flows freely—between students, between teams, and across continents. Inspired by FTC 5449/12527 Prototype, one of the earliest Chinese Open Alliance teams, we are committed to documenting our journey so others can learn from it.
students reached
regions & communities
events & workshops
robotics teams & programs
Build Bridge is more than a season slogan. It is our long-term vision: we build bridges between countries, between veteran and rookie teams, between online resources and underserved schools, and between advanced technology and real community needs.
OUR STORY
Core Values
Our core values are innovation, openness, inclusion, and impact. We align with FIRST Core Values and the Open Alliance culture: sharing our designs, failures, and lessons learned; lifting up rookie teams; and using robotics as a tool for authentic leadership and service.
Jun 2022
The spirit of open documentation and reproducible design directly inspires CARAT Lab’s Build Bridge model, which extends these ideas across the Pacific.
Dec 2016
Those early experiments with open sharing lay the foundation for a new kind of team culture—one where impact matters as much as performance on the field.
Jan 2009
Today, our students stand on the shoulders of these pioneers, combining years of experience with fresh ideas to push the boundaries of what a student-led, open-source robotics program can be.
THE TEAMS
A Cross-Border Student-led Community
Our students are organized into cross-border subteams for strategy, mechanical design, programming, media, and outreach. Canadian and Chinese students meet online throughout the season, iterate on the same CAD, code, and scouting systems, and then bring those ideas to life on their local robots and events.
“We don’t just keep good ideas for ourselves. When one team shares, many teams grow.”
STUDENT PARTICIPANT
CANADA–CHINA BUILD BRIDGE TEAM
“Open-source robotics changed how we learn. We want our documentation, code, and prototypes to make it easier for the next team to start.”
MENTOR
BUILD BRIDGE INITIATIVE
CONTACT US
WANT TO BUILD BRIDGES WITH US?
WE’D LOVE TO CONNECT.
Whether you are a student, mentor, school, or sponsor, we are always open to new partnerships and collaborations. Reach out to explore how we can bring FIRST, robotics, and open-source STEM programs to more communities together.