Gears whirring and wheels turning, robots race past one another in fierce competition. Families watched from the bleachers as steel and aluminum creations whizzed across gray foam fields, collecting red and blue blocks. Coders, scouts, mechanics, drivers and strategists all played a role in determining each match’s outcome, and, between matches, teams huddled around robots, operating like surgeons. This was the scene of the Jan. 11 VEX V5 Robotics Competition and the very first to be held at West High. 

The event was the culmination of weeks of hard work and preparation from each participant, including freshman Angela Diosdado. Diosdado is a mechanic and coder; she continuously improved the robot and accounted for the autonomous period — a short time when the robot performs tasks on its own. Diosdado is the only female team member for Blue Brains, one of West High’s three robotics teams: Blue Brains, BreakPoints and Escape Velocity.

“We were here [the day before the competition] from 2 to 5 p.m., and we brought everything from different homes [to] set up here. People at West and teams from other schools came to help set up so we would finish faster [and] start practicing a little earlier,” Diosdado said.

VEX V5 chooses a new theme each year for its competition format. For 2025-2026, competitors play a game called “Push Back,” in which robots aim to place as many of their team’s blocks into four separate goals within two minutes. Additionally, teams can earn points from having a majority of their blocks inside certain control zones, as well as from parking their robot in a designated zone along the wall of the field. 

The first of 38 qualification matches began around 9:20 a.m. Each team played eight matches, and the results determined which teams advanced to the quarterfinals and which teams had the opportunity to choose their alliance first.

Each match included four robots — two from each team. It was junior Hrushikesh Eluru’s job to find the most advantageous robot partner in each competition. He’s a scout for team Escape Velocity, requiring him to take into account their bot’s flaws to find a balanced alliance.

“If they have one capability that we don’t, and we have a capability that they don’t, then we can cover all of our bases and make up for our weaknesses so we can score as many points as possible,” Eluru said. “I prepared for this event by familiarizing myself with as many [teams] as I could so I [would know] their general abilities.”

Teams constantly darted between their table and the field, bringing anything from air pumps to spare batteries to improve their robot for the next match.

“Everyone [was] really stressed out because the matches are really close to each other. We have five or 10 minutes between each match, so if you have any fixes, you have to get it done in [that] time,” Eluru said. “If we’re late, we get [disqualified from] that match. We [have been] able to manage our time effectively and make important adjustments so we can fix our problems and score more points.”

However, the time between matches wasn’t the only challenge for West. 

“There [were] a lot of challenges — one of the main ones being [that] our driver had [little] match experience. That was a pretty big challenge because it was a steep learning curve,” member of BreakPoint and junior Puneeth Thotapalli said.

After the qualification matches, BreakPoint was ranked third, Blue Brains fifth, and Escape Velocity 16th. Before the elimination matches began, during alliance selection, higher-ranked teams had the opportunity to select their preferred alliance based on performance. BreakPoint allied with Blue Brains, while the Rice Meisters of Parkway Central High School allied with Escape Velocity. Thus, all of West’s teams advanced into the quarterfinals, but unfortunately, only two teams progressed further: BreakPoint and Blue Brains. 

“The biggest challenge with the last competition was being able to [compete with] two extremely high-scoring [robots]. Troy Buchanan High School’s bot is super fast scoring, and I tasked Team Leader [and junior] William Tanudyaya to defend them, but their bot was so quick that they couldn’t keep up. Unfortunately, my robot ended up breaking [in] the match, and I had to resort to all defense and using my wings to get us any points,” team Blue Brains’ driver and junior Adam Thomas said.

While all West teams had been eliminated after the semifinals, they didn’t go home empty-handed. For their innovative bot, Blue Brains won VEX’s Design Award.

“With most bots, the main idea when you’re building the structure is to use either steel or aluminum beams and channels, but we were able to get creative by cutting out sheets of plastic to be used as core structural pieces, and you can actually fold them in certain ways to create three dimensional shapes that can then help support and connect different parts of the bot. [It] saves a lot on weight and makes the bot faster,” field coach for Blue Brains and senior Umar Rafiq said.

All of the teams have already begun preparing for their next competition on Feb. 1 at Troy Buchanan High School. For team BreakPoint, preparation involves fixing the intake system and improving game strategy.

“We noticed several problems. First of all, the [block] intake would sometimes get stuck, so [we will] improve upon that. I think we just need to focus a little bit more on planning [a] strategy. I think we could really ramp up on how we do matches,” Thotapalli said. 

Alternatively, the Blue Brains are considering a new robot design.

“We came upon a couple mechanical difficulties during this competition. [For] our next [steps], we have a new bot design in the pipeline. It’s team policy to try to maintain two designs at once so we can spin them off each other and see which one’s working well,” Rafiq said.

Following their robot tipping over in qualification matches two, nine, 14 and 36, Escape Velocity plans to improve the robot’s conditions by adding counterweights and lowering the robot’s center of mass. They’re even considering the possibility of creating a new robot entirely.

“Because our next competition is [in a few weeks], we’re planning to fix our robot [and pay] more attention to it, but we’re also thinking of building new robots too. That’s [going to] be pretty hard, [so] we’re gonna have to pull more 2 a.m. meetings,” Escape Velocity member and junior Farrin Rahaman said. 

There are two more local robotics competitions until the state competition in March. While West’s teams prepare, they encourage other students to take a chance with robotics.

“Everyone in the program is willing to take you on [and] willing to let you be part of the process if you’re willing to learn and you’re there,” Rafiq said. “One thing that’s great about robotics is that everyone can participate in some way. [People] don’t just do one thing; people collaborate. They’ll work on mechanics, [but] if someone needs a little bit of help, [they might] provide some design and inspiration. There will always be room for someone who’s willing to show up and to try to learn and to be curious.”