I like that one of the sources the ai used the most was this exact thread
Looks like AIā¦ although most of these details are correct, please refrain from posting AI on the forum.
Uh, Vex is already going to court against the Rec Foundation.
Agreed on the part control/secondary marketā¦but it really boils down to a have / have not situation. The ability to design and manufacture custom parts shifts the balance toward wealthier school systems / wealthier teams. That is part of the reason that VEX reduced the amount of plastic and eliminated 3D printing of parts. Yes, they want the money, but equality of teams is kinda the point of having the inventory control. And I think that will be the argument that teams, schools, regions, and states haveā¦ what is most important to them? Part standardization and an equal playing field ā¦ or expanded use of advanced technologies and massive customization.
I think people are making too big of an issue with 3D printed parts being the issue. Obviously this has been brewing for some time. The bottom line is that RECF was not doing what VEX wanted them to do. Most likely VEX was not seeing the sales that they wanted, and did not think the actions of RECF were helping grow their business. Since VEX does most of its sales to schools and school districts, I expect the focus of of Global Robotics to be to get more schools and districts involved with VEX robotics integrated as part of their curriculum. Hiring the former head of PLTW indicates this and I would expect to see a lot of cooperation between the 3 entities., VEX, GR, and PLTW.
What this looks like exactly will have to be seen.
We wont know who is genuinely at fault at this time really, but I hope that the truth emerges between RECF and VEX sooner than later so that the students can decide what to do.
Everything is at a screeching halt right now until then.
Me, personally, I hope to see VEX and RECF make up again and work things out. Divorces are messy.
Thanks for this detailed explanation of how this came to be. I canāt see RECF continuing to try and organize VEX competitions. I am planning on starting at least 1 team at the school I am moving to and will start under the new system. I think long term it will be a good thing, but there will be a lot of stress on EPs and teams in the short term. I am not worried about the game changing or changes to the rules.
iām so confused after scrolling through comments on youtube, discord, and here, why are people still acting like RECF even has a shot at running comps this year?
RECF doesnāt have a game. Overdrive is straight VEX intellectual property, and so is the manual and game rules (which are definitely copyrighted). IP laws are no joke, so i donāt get how the adults running RECF think itās a smart move to legally expose themselves like that.
plus they still donāt have any real system for managing events, registrations, or anything. and judging by the āqualityā of their team registration site attempt, i seriously doubt they have the tech skills to pull any of this off.
we should all just go back to solving the game and building robots. this whole second-competition idea this year is buns. next year? who knows. but right now itās events.vex.com, people.
There was a lot of speculation in my post so your comments are fair. I donāt know too much about the reasons either, but it is also a good bet that money/sales fits in the equation somewhere. Like I said, I think that long term it will be a good thing. I worked in industry for a dozen years and went through a merger, and it was not fun.
I apologize to anyone I have offended. I should have been more thoughtful as there are a lot of good people with RECF. I hope that VEX picks up many of the people who have been making the competitions happen for years. I do not think RECF trying to go their own way would be a good thing for the students.
My only main concern right now is the VEX community effectively splitting in half if two different competitions are created. That would be really terrible and would possibly even kill VEX as a whole.
Iāve read this all, How long do you guys think till will get an update, on the situation / what is going on.
interestingly, wonāt judged awards and criteria also change? I believe the award categories were created by RECF
wrote that before I saw that
A few things to consider regarding this breakup:
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VEX owns the parts and designs the game. They are a for-profit company. They also own the World Championship, where RECF has been the Event Partner for years. They do not own or control the Event Partners that actually host tournaments.
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The RECF has historically administered the game, and holds most of the relationships with the Event Partners. They are a non-profit, with a focus on schools, development, and STEM.
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VEX Robotics sued the RECF on 4-28-2026 for $10M. They allege this is for unpaid invoices of VEX parts since 2022. Just because a lawsuit has been filed does not mean it has merit, and since both VEX and the RECF have been dependent on each other for years (up to now), itās likely there is more to this lawsuit than whatās on the surface.
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Most (but not all) of the competitions you have participated in have been RECF orchestrated, due to the RECF relationships with Event Partners. This includes state/regional championships, except in certain parts of the world. Thatās a lot of people that VEX will need to replace/recruit to replicate the volume of tournaments that the RECF has put on in recent years.
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This new entity called āGlobal Robotics and Science Foundationā was very recently created by VEX Robotics. Lest you think this is a separate organization, take a look at the addresses of both organizations. The operational decisions for this entity will be those of VEX Robotics. VEX is planning to create their own version of the RECF to administer their games.
So, what happens now? Short term, there will be confusion for teams, Event Partners, schools, and independent organizations. The Event Partners will have to pick a side, and they will kind of decide what happens, at least this year. They will either need to align with the RECF or align with VEX/Global Robotics. When either organization tells you that nothing will change, they are not being honest. EVERYTHING will change. Everything HAS changed.
VEX will likely try to use their pocketbook and name to pay Event Partners to come to their side and live 100% in the VEX universe, and the RECF will try to leverage their hundreds of existing relationships to āopen upā robotics, drones, and other competitions. Schools, which are a huge part of VEXās total sales, will have to decide which path they take. Will they be swayed to the VEX side by having an existing inventory of VEX parts, even though the RECF says they will still host tournaments that use the VEX platform? Will schools instead be tempted to open things up a little and follow the less corporate but maybe less certain RECF plan? Will the EPs en mass go to one side or the other? I mean, teams can only play in tournaments that are available to them.
I have no dog in this fight, but itās very unfortunate that this has happened. People can complain about VEX and/or the RECF, but they actually worked pretty well together to create a competitive tournament environment for IQ and V5. In the short term, things are worse for kids, which is sad.
I agree with the suggestion to do nothing right now. If you want to design and build to the released game, go for it.
But I think itās a mistake to register for anything at this time. Letās see what the Event Partners decide to do.
Honestly this would be true. But what surprised me is the community behind RECF. It is abundantly clear that people very much prefer RECF over whatever VEX is planning on doing.
My biggest struggle is the feeling of not as much transparency present, especially from VEX Robotics side, despite how many words are seemingly spoken right now.
I feel very uncomfortable that my account information just suddently switches to a new domain under different people without me needing to create a new account. And the numerous of mentors and millions of students having all of this changed nonconsentually is very very worrisome. Everyoneās understanding was to make an account under RECF for competing and competition hosting, not VEX.
I agree with @anon4126930. Remember, the Event Partners are the folks that actually RUN the local tournaments at which you participate, and they have a current relationship with RECF, not VEX Robotics. The RECF has been good to them, and relationships matter. Well, I guess we will find out if thatās the case.
VEX is going to need an Event Partner to put on even one tournament. They are starting with zero. Maybe they will throw lots of money at this problem. Maybe that will work.
Again, what I am going to say is pure speculation. We will need to wait till 1 June to see what RECF has in mind.
While VEX has explicitly mentioned that RECF will not be allowed to host or run any official VEX IQ/V5 tournaments, I donāt think they can stop RECF from having a tournament that is open-platform and teams have a choice of using any platforms that they want to, including VEX.
And for the sake of the sales figures, I donāt think VEX will āringfencedā to the point that VEX parts can only be used for VEX organised events. Else it will be like biting the nose off to spite the face.
yeah i totally get it, VEX isnāt exactly a champion of transparency lol but facts:
your account info never moved 
itās always been on VEX servers the whole time. RECF just had the domain pointing there.
think of RECF as the mailbox and VEX as the house. they snatched the mailbox and stuck it in front of a freshly painted shed while theyāre trying to build their own houseā¦ with no architect, no plumber, no electricity.
the real worry is if your info suddenly pops up on RECF serversā¦ that would mean unauthorized access happened.
Even though that is likely true, I think the point is missed. Firstly, I want to declare that I do not represent RECF and neither VEX. I am not a lawyer either, but I can at least provide my limited insight.
VEX Robotics is currently in a lawsuit against RECF for ~$11 million last time I checked. The community is fully aware of it due to its noise.
But the insane thing is the website and data of people who made agreements to do a specific type of business with RECF, and NOT VEX. All of these agreements are with the ācustomer baseā and RECF ONLY. And that customer base has value that VEX Robotics took away from RECF, up to 24 million dollars worth:
Here are my fears:
Based on the website of millions of people, largely underage students and mentors and agreements thereof, being changed hands nonconsentually with all of the millions of agreements that have intentions for specific business ONLY with RECF, I repeat once again, VEX Robotics is playing a very ugly game that can backfire very very hard if they continue to keep the website, database, code, community, and contractually binding agreements thereof that was intended for RECF.
And, if not RECF, think about every single school who competes in VEX. All of the hundreds of organizations affected by this. Think about the global impact, ranging from UK laws, U.S. laws, Canadian law, and so many more.
I need to repeat myself. I do not represent RECF or VEX. I donāt know what was done or who is at fault for the RECF vs. VEX situation. Iām just explaining how ugly this could turn out.
yeah i get the sentiment, and i know a lot of people have had good relationships with their RECF contacts for yearsā¦ but letās be real.
based on the lawsuit, RECF looks like they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar schools are super risk-averse, what school admin is gonna sign off on registering with an org thatās publicly accused of that kind of stuff?
plus RECF has zero game of their own and almost certainly canāt legally run Overdrive or any current VEX game without the IP. just because a bunch of people like RECF doesnāt mean any of this is grounded in reality. thereās a lot of copium going around rn and at this point itās all starting to feel like a distraction from actually building robots.