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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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