VEX-robotics – CompLing Insights

After an incredible season last year where our team, Ex Machina, competed at the VEX Robotics World Championship 2025, I’m excited to share that we’re back for another season! I’ll continue competing this season as a team member of Ex Machina, building on everything we learned from competing together at the global championship.

A New Season, A New Challenge

This year’s game for the VEX V5 Robotics Competition has been announced, and it looks both challenging and fun. Here is the official game reveal video so you can see what teams will be working on this season:

Watch the VEX V5 Robotics Competition 2026 Game Reveal

From the initial reveal, I can already tell that strategy, design innovation, and precise teamwork will be key to succeeding this year.

Balancing Robotics and College Applications

This season is going to be especially busy for me and my teammates. As rising seniors, we’re all deep into the college application process. Between essays, interviews, and preparing for upcoming deadlines, our schedules are definitely packed. But despite the workload, we’ve all decided to continue competing. Robotics has been such an important part of our high school journey, and we’re passionate about pushing ourselves further as a team in our final season together.

VEX Worlds 2026 Heads to St. Louis

There’s another big change this year: for 2026, the VEX Robotics World Championship is moving to St. Louis, Missouri! For the past few years, the event was held in Dallas, Texas, so this will be a new experience for everyone.

The championship will be held in April 2026 at the America’s Center Convention Complex in downtown St. Louis, with specific dates to be announced later. You can read more details about the upcoming event on the REC Foundation’s official page.

Here is a video introducing VEX Worlds 2026 in St. Louis to get you excited for what’s ahead:

VEX Robotics World Championship Heads to St. Louis in 2026

Looking Ahead

It feels both exciting and bittersweet to enter my final year of high school robotics. I know the journey ahead will be intense with balancing robot design, programming, and competition prep alongside college applications, but I’m ready for the challenge.

I’ll keep sharing updates about our season as we start building and competing, so stay tuned to see how Ex Machina continues to grow in 2026.

— Andrew

From May 6 to May 8, 2025, my team and I had the chance to compete in the VEX Robotics World Championship—held at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas. This annual event brings together the top-performing teams from around the globe for the VEX IQ, VEX V5, and VEX U competitions. We were there to represent Team 66475C – Ex Machina in the VEX V5 High School division.

Since 2021, my teams have qualified for Worlds five years in a row—each time representing Washington as one of the state’s top contenders. This year, we were proud to win the State Championship, earn our ticket to Dallas, and compete in the Design Division, which included 83 qualified teams from all over the world.

And we made it count:
🏆 Design Division Champions
🌍 Top 8 globally among 831 teams
💥 Quarterfinalists overall

Huge thanks to our incredible partner team 1010G (TenTon Robotics) from British Columbia, Canada, who helped make our division title possible. If you’re curious about how it all unfolded, you can catch the recap here:
👉 Watch the recap

My Role

As Main Builder, I utilized 3D modeling software to design the robot, ensuring efficient planning and resource management. I was actively involved in constructing all aspects of the robot, including the drive base and various subsystems. In this role, I also managed the team of builders, ensuring their work was properly integrated and aligned with the overall design, fostering collaboration and maintaining high standards throughout the building process.

Participating in this kind of international competition is incredibly rewarding—not just for the technical skills, but for what it teaches you about teamwork, dealing with pressure, and adapting to the unexpected. And honestly, one of the best parts is just making friends from all over the world.

If you’re interested in robotics, I highly recommend giving this competition a shot.

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Coming soon: I’ll be sharing updates on my summer AI projects—stay tuned!

— Andrew

Category: VEX-robotics

Ex Machina Gears Up for VEX Worlds 2026 in St. Louis

Ex Machina Goes Global: VEX Worlds 2025 Recap

My Role