How this simulator works
One match
30 s AUTO · 8 s transition · 2:00 TELEOP
Every element tracked
40 POLLEN, 16 NECTAR, 4 FLOWERS, 2 HIVES
Scoring
Straight from the 2026–27 Competition Manual
Quick start
- 1
Describe your robots
Open the robot settings (the left panel on a computer, the Robots tab on a phone). Go to Robot 1 and Robot 2 and set how fast and accurate each robot is. Start with a preset (Rookie, Average, Elite) and then fine-tune it. Both alliances use these same robots, so every result comes down to strategy, not hardware.
- 2
Check the game assumptions
The Game tab holds the things the manual doesn't pin down, such as how many elements tip the HIVE and how many fit in a FLOWER. The defaults are a reasonable starting point. Change them if your field or practice matches show something different.
- 3
Run the Strategy showdown
Pick which strategies to compare (at least two) and how many matches per pairing, then press Run. More matches take longer but give steadier numbers. Whenever you change a slider, an amber badge reminds you to rerun.
- 4
Watch a match
Open the Match viewer, pick a strategy for each alliance, and watch the robots play. This is the best way to see why a strategy wins or loses: where the robots spend their time, when FLOWERS get claimed or stolen, and whether they get back to park.
What the results tell you
- Best for qualifications (RP / match)
- The strategy that earns the most RANKING POINTS per match: win/tie points plus the SWARM and POLLINATOR bonuses. Qualification rankings are by average RP (Table 13-1), so this is what moves you up the rankings. The Rankings table is sorted this way by default, with the manual's tiebreakers (score without foul points, then TIPS, then AUTO points).
- Best for playoffs (win %)
- Playoffs have no RP: alliances advance by winning (13.7). This is the strategy that wins most often. Switch the Rankings table to "Playoffs (win %)" to sort it that way.
- Win %
- How often the strategy wins against every strategy you selected, with ties counted as half a win.
- Avg score / Margin
- Average points scored, and average points scored minus points allowed. A positive margin means the strategy usually outscores its opponents.
- ± SD
- How much the score swings from match to match. Lower means more consistent and predictable.
- Tips
- Average number of HIVE TIPS per match (20 points each).
- FLOWER pts
- Average points from FLOWERS: the bottom-NECTAR bonus plus points for owned FLOWERS.
- 4+ / 7+ tips
- How often the alliance reaches the POLLINATOR 1 (4 tips) and POLLINATOR 2 (7 tips) RP thresholds.
- Where the points come from
- A stacked bar per strategy that splits the average score by source: HIVE tips, elements left in the CELL, FLOWERS, LEAVE + park, and GARDEN + fouls.
- Head to head
- Row strategy's win rate against the column strategy, with the average margin underneath. Green means the row usually wins, red means it usually loses. This is where counters show up: a strategy can be strong overall but weak against one specific opponent. Click a cell to watch those exact matches in the Match viewer.
What the robot sliders mean
- Width, length, weight
- Your robot's real frame size and weight. Size changes how you fit around the HIVE and in the LOADING ZONE. Weight decides who shoves whom in a collision.
- Height when extended
- How tall the robot gets with everything raised (29 in is the legal limit). A tall defender pressed against the front of a shooter knocks down a share of its shots (Game tab slider).
- Launcher height
- How high the ball leaves your launcher. Higher clears a defender sooner, and the ball has less to climb to reach the CELL.
- Drivetrain
- Tank pushes harder but can only drive the way it points, so it turns before it moves. Mecanum and swerve can drive sideways and turn on the move.
- Acceleration and shot speed
- Acceleration is how fast you reach top speed. Shot speed is how fast a ball leaves the robot. The CELL opening is about 5 ft up, so a slow launcher can't reach it from far away (or at all, below about 15.5 ft/s). The slider shows how far your speed reaches.
- Intake width
- How much of the front the intake covers. Robots drive over balls to pick them up. A wide intake needs less lining up and grabs nearby balls too.
- Carry capacity
- How many elements you can hold, up to the 4-element limit in G407.
- Drive speed
- Top speed in a straight line. Acceleration is separate, under Robot specs.
- Intake time
- How long the rollers take to pull a ball in (0.05 to 0.4 s). Robots don't stop to pick up, but they can only drive over a ball as fast as the intake can swallow it.
- Launch time
- Time between shots when emptying your robot into the HIVE.
- Align / aim per trip
- Time lost every trip lining up to shoot or to use a FLOWER.
- Launch range
- How far the launcher is built to shoot. The robot has to shoot from the end the upward CELL is facing, and that end swaps every tip. Shots from farther away miss more, so the robots weigh distance against driving time.
- Shooter on the back
- Off (the usual design): the robot picks up and shoots from the front. On: the shooter faces backward, so the robot turns its back to the HIVE to shoot.
- Shoot while driving
- An advanced skill (on for the Elite preset): the robot lines up and fires while still driving, instead of stopping first. Shots on the move are a little less accurate. Needs mecanum or swerve.
- Accuracy sliders
- Chance a shot goes in from close range (it drops the farther away you shoot), or that a FLOWER placement stays in. Misses bounce back onto the field, where anyone can pick them up.
- AUTO sliders
- How often AUTO works at all, how fast it runs compared with TELEOP, and whether it ends parked.
Reading the Match viewer
- Red and blue squares are robots. The dots under each robot are what it's carrying: POLLEN, red NECTAR, blue NECTAR.
- In the middle are the red and blue HIVES, between the two gray A-frame ends (robots can drive under the HIVES). The filled CELL is the upward one, its number is how many elements are inside, and its white edge is where shots go in. It flips on every tip.
- The circles on the four walls are FLOWERS. The ring color shows the owner, and the label shows elements in the scoring volume (and POLLEN waiting at the bottom).
- A solid colored box is a LOADING ZONE. A dashed strip is a GARDEN. A yellow outline means the robot is parked.
- Use the scrubber and the 1×–8× buttons to move through the match, and the Match log to see tips, FLOWER claims and steals as they happen.
Tips for trustworthy answers
- Measure a real cycle with a stopwatch (pick up 4, drive, shoot 4) and adjust the sliders until the Match viewer looks similar. The results are only as good as those numbers.
- If two strategies are within a few points of each other, run 100 or 200 matches per pairing before you trust the order.
- Rerun the showdown with the Rookie and Elite presets. A strategy that stays near the top across skill levels is a safe choice.
- Check how sensitive the answer is: nudge FLOWER capacity or the tip threshold on the Game tab and see if the winner changes.
- Use the head-to-head table for alliance planning. If you expect an opponent to play Hive Only, look at which strategy beats Hive Only specifically.
What it can't tell you
- Robots bump, push, and drive around the HIVE frame and FLOWERS. A defender reads where each opponent is going to shoot and tries to get in front of it first, but it isn't a full driver-versus-driver fight.
- Field positions are measured from the manual's drawings, not the official CAD.
- Robots make sensible, consistent decisions (points per second), with some random variation in how long things take. Real drivers adapt, make bigger mistakes, and sometimes break down.
- Fouls only come from PINS (any robot, G421). Robots back off before a PIN reaches 3 s, so they're rare. Other penalties aren't modeled.
- See Rules & assumptions for exactly what comes from the manual and what is an estimate.
BIOBUZZ strategy questions
What is FTC BIOBUZZ?
BIOBUZZ presented by RTX is the 2026–27 FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) game. Two alliances of two robots collect POLLEN and NECTAR and launch them into their HIVE, which tips for 20 points once its upward CELL is full enough. In the last 60 seconds robots can also score in the FLOWERS on the field walls, and each robot can PARK in its LOADING ZONE. A match is a 30 s AUTO, an 8 s transition and a 2:00 TELEOP.
What is the best strategy for FTC BIOBUZZ?
It depends on how fast and accurate your robots are, which is why this simulator exists. Set your robots on the Robots panel, then run the Strategy showdown: it plays Hive Only, Flower Rush, Split Endgame, Late Cap, Builder + Capper, Hive + Defender and the other built-in strategies against each other over hundreds of matches. "Best for qualifications" is the strategy with the most ranking points per match, and "Best for playoffs" is the one that wins most often.
Is scoring with FLOWERS worth it in BIOBUZZ?
Sometimes. A HIVE TIP is worth 20 points, while a FLOWER pays the alliance that owns it (most NECTAR in the scoring volume) 2 points per element inside, plus 5 points to the alliance whose NECTAR sits lowest in it. NECTAR can only go into FLOWERS in the last 60 seconds, and the time spent there is time not spent tipping the HIVE. Compare Hive Only against Flower Rush, Split Endgame and Late Cap in the showdown with your own robots to see which side of that trade wins for you.
How does the BIOBUZZ HIVE tip?
Each alliance's HIVE has a CELL at each end. When the upward CELL holds enough weight it tips, scoring 20 points in AUTO or TELEOP, and the other CELL swings up. The calibration procedure says 7 POLLEN must not tip it and 8 must, and one NECTAR weighs about as much as 1.67 POLLEN. Elements left in the upward CELL at the end of the match score 2 points each.
How do ranking points (RP) work in BIOBUZZ?
A win is worth 3 RP and a tie 1 RP. Alliances also earn the SWARM RP for at least 16 points from LEAVE and PARK, POLLINATOR 1 for 4 or more HIVE TIPS, and POLLINATOR 2 for 7 or more TIPS (regular-event thresholds). The showdown reports how often each strategy reaches each threshold.
Who made BIOBUZZ Strategy Lab, and does it cost anything?
FTC Team 6603, Guild of Gears, built it for the FTC community. It's free, runs entirely in your browser, and the code is open source on GitHub. It isn't an official FIRST tool, and every scoring rule it uses is listed on the Rules & assumptions page.
Under the hood
Each match is simulated in 0.1-second steps. Whenever a robot finishes a job, it picks the next one by estimating expected points per second: a shot is worth its chance of going in times its share of a 20-point tip. Robots pick balls up on the run, driving over them intake first. The robot grabs another ball only if that adds points faster than its current trip is earning them, and it shoots from the spot that earns the most points per second (closer is more accurate, but getting there takes time). Robots switch to FLOWERS at their set time, finish a tip first if they're one volley away, and leave early enough to park. They accelerate, turn at their drivetrain's rate, steer around the HIVE frame, FLOWERS and each other, and push each other based on weight and traction. The HIVE tips when the upward CELL holds about 7.5 POLLEN-weights (one NECTAR ≈ 1.67 POLLEN, from the official calibration procedure). Tipping spins the HIVE, then the elements pour out and roll. Shots follow real projectile paths, and misses bounce back onto the floor. After the buzzer everything settles before scoring. The showdown repeats all of this with different random luck for every pairing of strategies, then averages the results. It runs on several threads at once, and every match has its own seed, so any showdown match can be replayed exactly in the Match viewer. The code lives in src/lib/sim/, and docs/HOW_IT_WORKS.md walks through it.