Top Hawaiʻi robotics teams advance to the 2026 VEX World Championships

Hawai‘i Space Grant Consortium
University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology
School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology

Top Hawaiʻi robotics teams advance to the 2026 VEX World Championships
• Event scheduled April 21 – 30 in St. Louis, Missouri
HONOLULU (Feb. 16, 2026) – 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 from Oʻahu 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.
Team photos from the VEX Regional Championships are available at these Flickr links:
• V5RC High School: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCKzUF
• V5RC Middle School: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCKArB
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 fifteen second period of autonomous play followed by a one minute and forty-five
second (1:45) 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 Manoaʻs 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.