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RECF and Google Inspire the Next Generation of Innovators with Nationwide Robotics Workshops 

March 25, 2025
Throughout 2023-2024, the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation (RECF), in collaboration with Google, held robotics workshops in fourteen locations across the US.  At each stop, hun...
Students participate in a Google Data Centers Robotics for Kids Program event.

Building a Robotics Legacy at Lynwood High School

March 24, 2025
Lynwood High School’s robotics program is a beacon of opportunity in a community south of Los Angeles, California. Many of the students will be first-generation college students. The schoolR...
Team prepares their robot for an upcoming event.

PLTW & RECF: Powering the Future of Engineering and Robotics Education

March 18, 2025
Project Lead The Way (PLTW) and the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation (RECF) are joining forces to enhance engineering and robotics education. This partnership leverages the strengths o...
Project Lead the Way, PLTW, logo

2025 Online Challenges Winners Announced

March 17, 2025
Thank you to the students from all over the globe who participated in this season’s Online Challenges! We are so impressed by all of the entries we received, and we are thrilled to share the 2025 cha...
Online Challenges Winners Announced graphic

Impact Newsletter: February 2025

February 27, 2025
From Worcester to Worcester: A 7,781 Mile Robotics Journey Imagine building a competition-ready robot in just 24 hours with minimal knowledge of the game and limited experience with a robotics ...
Impact Newsletter Graphic with REC Foundation logo.

The Aerial Drone Competition: Largest Student Drone Program in the US Soars to New Educational Heights

November 18, 2024
Greenville, TX – November 18, 2024 –  Another exciting and educational drone season has begun for thousands of middle and high schools nationwide. The Aerial Drone Competition’s Mission 2025: Gr...
Aerial Drone Competition Logo

From Worcester, South Africa to Worcester, Massachusetts

January 31, 2025
VEX Robotics teams spend months meticulously planning game strategies, coding for the best autonomous score, and building and refining their robot. It’s all part of the engineering design process. ...
Team works on their robot at an event.

Indigenous Robotics take Center Stage at the Southwest Native American Showcase

On the remote Fort Apache Reservation, high in the mountains above Phoenix, native students worked on their robots. The Arizona White Mountains peeked over the Chief Alchesay Activity Center, wher...
Participant plays VEX IQ Robotics Competition Full Volume at Southwest Native American Showcase

Creating Space with Prep for Prep

November 5, 2024
“You belong here.” That was Dale Allsopp’s opening message to the 75 Prep for Prep students gathered at Google’s Chelsea offices for a robotics workshop in New York City this past October. Also ba...
Participant works on robot at Prep for Prep event

The Robotics Education & Competition Foundation (RECF) Expands its Partnerships with Native Tribes to Bridge Educational Divide Through Robotics Programming

November 12, 2024
Greenville, TX – November 12, 2024 — The Robotics Education & Competition Foundation (RECF) expands its partnership with Native American Tribes across the United States to address the techn...
Indigenous Robotics Featured Image

Featured Video: Girl Powered Flagship Event 2019

November 27, 2019
Over 50 girls from the Dallas, TX area gathered together at the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas’s STEM Center of Excellence in October for our third annual Girl Powered Flagship Event, sponsored by Te...
Aerial Drone Competition Logo

The Robotics Education & Competition Foundation is GuideStar Gold Certified!

October 22, 2024
The Robotics Education & Competition Foundation is proud to share that we’ve earned our 2024 Gold Seal of Transparency from Candid, a leading nonprofit research and data center formed in 2019 whe...

Featured Video: Building Hope

November 27, 2019
In the REC Foundation community, we are privileged to know and work with so many incredible mentors. In collaboration with VEX Robotics, it is our pleasure to share this short documentary about Coach...
REC Foundation logo

From Participant to Partner: Oscar McCullough

February 21, 2024
At the Robotics Education and Competition Foundation (RECF) we are so lucky to have thousands of volunteers who tirelessly devote countless hours to making sure that events run smoothly. One of those...
Oscar DeVon McCullough profile picture

Meshing Gears with Omar Cortez

October 10, 2024
I told the kids, ‘I want you guys to explore different careers so you can find something that you’re going to wake up excited about.’ I love what I do. And through that, I think through my pass...
Omar shows his book, Mashed Gears

2024 Online Challenges Winners Announced

March 15, 2024
Thank you to the students from all over the globe who participated in this season’s Online Challenges! We are so impressed by all of the entries we received, and we are thrilled to share the 20...
Online Challenges Winners Announced graphic

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month 2023

November 29, 2023
In honor of Native American Heritage month, we took a trip to the White Mountain Apache Reservation to speak with RECF volunteer Triscinda Miller. Triscinda is a STEM tech with Apache Behavioral Heal...
Triscinda Miller profile picture

Alumni Profile: Amir Tillis

November 9, 2023
Amir Tillis is a VEX alumni who participated in V5RC events while in high school. He currently works at Deloitte as a technical consultant where his primary focus is space and defense clients. “Peopl...
VEX alum Amir Tillis profile picture

Congratulations to Project Lead the Way Teacher of the Year and RECF Volunteer Natasha Craft

January 24, 2024
While dedicated mentors abound at the Robotics Education and Competition Foundation, it is rare that a volunteer is named Teacher of the Year. In December, Natasha Craft, a robotics coach and educato...

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month 2023

October 11, 2023
Like many REC Foundation (RECF) mentors, Yazmin Rivera got into robotics with little prior experience after her school’s STEM teacher departed and she was asked to fill in for the position. Despite t...
Yaszmin Rivera profile picture

Be Authentically You – Mrs. Belt-Robinson

February 28, 2019
We are very excited to kick off a new blog series that will feature a Q&A with the strong women mentors, coaches, teachers, and more within VEX Robotics and CS-STEM that inspire our young girls t...

Native American Profiles in STEM

November 3, 2022
Working with our partners at the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, the REC Foundation celebrates Native American Heritage Month by highlighting indigenous people in various domain...
Native American Profiles in STEM graphic featuring four profile pictures

Black History Month 2023 Feature: Janeen Uzzell

February 26, 2023
Janeen Uzzell is the Chief Executive Officer at the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), the largest Black STEM community impacting society and industry. In her former role as the Chief Operat...
Black History Month graphic

Black History Month 2023 Feature: Terrence Southern

February 27, 2023
Terrence Southern is an award winning Robotics & Automation expert, speaker, influencer of innovation, entrepreneur and philanthropist who is a nationally recognized thought leader, strategist an...
Terrence Southern profile picture

3rd Annual Southwest Native American Showcase sponsored by Amazon and Google

October 13, 2022
All Native American and Indigenous Teams are invited to participate in the 3rd Annual Native American Showcase Events – November 18-19, 2022 in Whiteriver, Arizona. Teams will have an oppo...
Logo of Southwest Native Showcase

2025-2026 Signature Event Updates

  1. An Event Partner wanting to apply to host a Signature Event must have hosted events for at least 2 seasons prior to applying. 
  2. Signature Events must use the officially branded award banners for the Excellence Award and Tournament/Teamwork Champions Award.
  3. When hanging field skirts the VEX Robotics logo/brand name can not be covered up on the competition fields.
  4. VEX V5 Robotics Competition Signature Events may have regional capacity and max per organization restrictions lifted 8 weeks before the event if the event is not full (similar to the process already in place for VEX IQ Robotics Competition Signature Events).
  5. Minimum pit size reduced to 8’x 8’ instead of 10’x10’.
  6. Beginning in the 2025-2026 season, the REC Foundation will collect $10 instead of $5 per team registration on all Signature Events. This is to help offset travel costs for REC Foundation staff to support these larger events.

2025-2026 Signature Event Application Reminders

  1. Existing Signature Events only need to complete the Final Application (due by March 31, 2025)
  2. New Signature Event concepts will need to complete the Initial Proposal by January 31, 2025 and if approved, complete the Final Application by March 31, 2025.
Crowd watches the Signature Event in Minnesota's Mall of America
VEX Robotics World Championship landscape logo
FC Dallas Logo
FC Dallas VEX Robotics Special
Come out Saturday, May 10, at 7:30 p.m. as FC Dallas takes on Real Salt Lake at Toyota Stadium! A portion of the ticket proceeds will go to help raise…
Robot Shipping Option
Freeman is our shipping partner for the VEX Robotics World Championship. Teams choosing to ship should ensure that their robots arrive on or AFTER May 5, 2025 to the Kay…
Judges observe participants at VEX Robotics World Championship
Volunteer | VEX Robotics World Championship
WE NEED PASSIONATE VOLUNTEERS LIKE YOU TO POWER THE VEX ROBOTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP! Whether you participate solo or with a group of friends, family, or coworkers, you’ll make a huge…