BEE 1.8

BEE 1.8: a free 3D robot simulator for the 2026–27 season, as a standalone app. Nothing to install: the Java runtime is included, so your TeamCode compiles and runs without a JDK.

System	File
Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit)	BEE-windows.zip
macOS (Apple Silicon)	BEE-macos.zip
Linux x86_64	BEE-linux.tar.gz

What's new in 1.8: CAD Studio

• CAD Studio in the garage (Garage → CAD → Open CAD Studio): turn your CAD into the robot you drive.
  • Load GLB / glTF, FBX, OBJ (with its .mtl colors), 3MF or STL. From Fusion: File → Export → FBX, OBJ or 3MF; from Onshape: glTF binary (.glb).
  • Pick the detail: Game, High, Ultra or Maximum. It keeps your CAD colors, smooth curved surfaces and sharp edges.
  • Check the size against the 18 in box and turn the robot so the FRONT arrow points to its front.
  • Cut out the turrets: move the plane, press Slice, click the turrets (or pick one by its footprint), choose the block that turns it. They turn on the field like on the real robot.
• Your autos run on your robot. Test in sim no longer switches you to the robot an auto was drawn with.
• Renaming or deleting an auto also updates your other robots and the bots that used it. A robot whose auto was deleted runs Smart Auto right away.
• If you have 1.7, the green Update button in the menu installs this version.

Update button and real turn speed (since 1.7)

• Update from inside the app. When a new version is out, the main menu shows a green UPDATE AVAILABLE button. Press it and BEE downloads the new version, checks it, closes and starts again updated. Your robots, autos, CAD and settings stay. This is the last time you need to download BEE by hand.
• Turn speed that works. Garage → Chassis → Turn speed in place (°/s): a full turn now spins your robot at exactly that speed, faster or slower than before, from the keyboard, a gamepad, autos and your Java code. Half a turn spins it at half. Leave it at 0 to keep the old behavior.
• The menu shows your version under the BEE logo.

No lag on your robot online (since 1.6)

In TELEOP your robot now drives on your own computer, so it answers your keys and controller right away, even when the host is far away. Before, it waited for the host (about 0.3 s over long distances).

• The host still runs everything else: pieces, intake, shots, score and the referee.
• In AUTO the host runs everyone's auto, like before.
• Other players' robots are shown smoothed, a moment behind. Pushing between robots feels a little softer than offline.

Online from anywhere (since 1.5)

You can now play online with players on other networks: mobile data, a phone hotspot, school or office Wi-Fi, another country. When two computers can't connect directly, the game goes through a relay server by itself. You don't need to set anything.

Online also uses less internet traffic now.

Your own auto, online (since 1.4)

In an online match, your robot now runs the auto you picked in the Auto Builder in AUTO, starting from that auto's START, like in a normal match. Everyone in the room runs their own.

• Pick it as usual: Auto Builder → your auto, or the garage → the robot's auto.
• The room shows everyone's AUTO before the match starts.
• If you have Smart Auto or a Java OpMode selected, your robot runs Smart Auto online. Java code doesn't run online.

Online (since 1.3)

PLAY → Online:

• Private room: Create a private room gives you a 5-letter code. Your friends type it in Join.
• Quick play: puts you with whoever is online right now.
• Up to 4 players (RED 1, RED 2, BLUE 1, BLUE 2). Empty spots can be filled with bots, and the player who made the room starts the match.

How it works:

• The player who makes the room runs the match, so a good connection helps.
• The others drive their own robot from their computer.
• Other players' robots show as blocks.
• Online matches don't count for the leaderboard.

Known limits:

• Players far apart (for example Europe and America) feel a small delay. The player who makes the room plays with no delay, so let the one with the best internet host.
• If the host leaves, the match ends for everyone.

First start. The app is not signed yet.

• Windows: SmartScreen → More info → Run anyway. If Windows Firewall asks, allow BEE (online play needs it).
• macOS: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway.
• Linux: run BEE/BEE.x86_64 and keep java/, runtime/ and the .so file next to it.

On an Intel Mac, install a JDK 17+ (adoptium.net) first.

Your robots, autos and settings are saved in your user folder (Godot/app_userdata/ftc_project), so this version keeps the ones you made before.

Licenses. Made with the Godot Engine (MIT). Online play uses the Godot WebRTC plugin (MIT) with libdatachannel (MPL 2.0) and its dependencies (licenses and source: https://github.com/godotengine/webrtc-native). The bundled Java runtime is Eclipse Temurin 21 (GPLv2 with the Classpath Exception; source: https://github.com/adoptium/jdk21u). The libraries in java/lib keep their own licenses.

BEE is an independent project, not affiliated with FIRST®. FIRST, FIRST Tech Challenge, and BIOBUZZ are registered trademarks of FIRST® (www.firstinspires.org) which is not overseeing, involved with, or responsible for this activity, product, or service.