Top Hawaiʻi robotics teams advance to the 2026 VEX World Championships

A total of 52 robotic teams representing public and private schools as well as club organizations and home teams from Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi Island, Maui, and Molokaʻi competed at this weekend’s Hawaiʻi VEX V5 Robotics Competition Regional Championship with the top 7 teams now advancing to compete with the best robotic teams from around the globe at the 2026 VEX Robotics World Championships in St. Louis, Missouri, April 21 – 30, at the America’s Center Convention Complex.

Advancing are Island Robotics, Waiʻanae High School, Pearl City High School, Kaimuki Middle School, Mililani Mechs Robotics, and Waialua High & Intermediate School. The double qualifications by these teams will allow one other Hawaiʻi team – to be determined by the Robotics Education and Competition Foundation – to advance to the VEX Worlds.

Sponsored by Hawaiian Electric and in partnership with the Hawaiʻi Space Grant Consortium, Hawaiʻi Army National Guard, and Nānākuli High & Intermediate School, the Hawaiʻi VEX V5 Robotics Competition Regional Championships were held on Feb. 14-15 at the Hawaiʻi Army National Guard as a qualifying event for the VEX Worlds.

The VEX V5 Robotics Competition featured both high school and middle school teams. This year’s challenge, Push Back, is a fast-paced game that pits alliances of two teams against another alliance and requires robots to score blocks in goals, control zones within goals, and park in defined zones at the end of the match. Robots have a 15 second period of autonomous play followed by a one minute and 45 second driver-controlled play.

VEX Robotics is an educational robotics program that inspires students to excel in STEM principles while encouraging creativity, teamwork, leadership and problem solving among groups. This season there were 227 registered teams from Hawaiʻi and over 1000 students participating in school, home and club robotics programs. Robotics competitions foster these skills and prepare students to become future innovators as well as increase their interest in pursuing STEM careers. Tournaments are held year-round at the regional, state, national and international levels, and culminate in the VEX Robotics World Championship. There are more than 20,000 teams from over 50 countries participating in VEX tournaments worldwide.

Locally, the Hawaiʻi Space Grant Consortium (HSGC), under the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoaʻs Hawaiʻi Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP) unit, oversees the Hawaiʻi VEX Robotics Competitions with funding through the University of Hawaiʻi Foundation. HSGC offers various remote and in-person trainings and workshops for coaches, teachers, and students, developing a robotics curriculum for STEM/robotics classes, and mentors teachers and students in rookie robotics programs. HSGC and HIGP work to inspire and prepare students to enter STEM degree pathways and careers to promote public understanding of NASA’s goals and missions.

Since 2013, Hawaiian Electric has been the presenting sponsor of the Hawaiʻi VEX Regional Championships, enabling teams to qualify for the VEX Worlds and compete on a global stage. Over the past four decades, the company has supported dozens of STEM education initiatives across the state including math and science bowls, engineering and science fairs, education summits, robotics programs, and STEM projects and events. Company employees also volunteer countless hours to provide student mentoring as well as staffing at robotic tournaments.