I was trying to see who so far is going to Worlds but it doesn’t appear to be listed on Robot Events yet. So I went to the main Worlds page to see what it says. There are less than 70 days until Worlds and many of the things listed there are for Dallas in 2025. I get that everything has to be redone because it is in a new city, but they have a huge team working on Worlds. Has anyone heard any reason why it’s taking so long for it to get up on Robot Events?
It appears that most of the information can be found on the vex worlds website https://recf.org/vex-robotics-world-championship/general-information/ but it is weird that the page is not up on robot events but i assume it will be up before long seeing how state tournaments are coming up soon
That is the main Worlds page I mentioned that still has Dallas and 2025 all over it. So, it is not up to date information.
Well technically, there is a post about VEX 2026 Worlds.
Good afternoon, greetings from Paraguay. We have not yet received the pass for this year, nor have we been informed of the registration fees. Additionally, we haven’t seen a call for judges or volunteers. It is quite challenging for us, being 9,000 km away, to organize flights and accommodations on such short notice, as there are only 70 days remaining. Unfortunately, I believe we will have to skip this edition.
RobotEvent pages for Vex Worlds 2026 are up. So is the agenda too on vexworlds.com
Well, this is so stupid.
With having to book 2 hotel rooms, we cannot go even if we qualify to Worlds. Unless there are different paymetn options for teams who can’t afford this much. The RECF has really bungled this. I’d rather have a “less fun” event than having to spend upwards of $6000 to go. Especially since less than 2 MONTHS is too little time to raise this much money.
I mean no offence to anyone on affiliated with the REC Foundation. I am just frustrated that going to Worlds isn’t a matter of actualy qualifying anymore, but raisng enough money (at least for my team).
Having fielded a number of teams to Worlds - I understand the costs involve at beginning of season and mentally prepare myself to help navigate fundraising by families over the years. This is really not RECF issue other than they employ a mechanism to assure # hotel rooms are available to teams.
It is not easy, and I get your frustration.
Yeah, I realized that my tone seemed unteachable and stubborn. I understand the difficulty of runing large events. Although I haven’t been an EP (I’m not old enough), I have helped out with many of the menial tasks like setting up laptops, inspecting teams, and MAKING SURE TEAMS KNOW THAT THEY ARE QUEING. I’ve never been to worlds, but I assume this are harder to do with the scale of the facility.
What I don’t understand is why the non-profit RECF can’t get sponsers to pay for Worlds. I am fairly certin that there would be many companies and foundaitons who would love to either pay for the event, or sponsor teams’ regestration fee. We are the future workforce for many Mechanical and Electrical engineering fields, and this is the best time to make an impression on us. I guess part of this is on the teams, but there is only so much you can do.
For example, I am the main person on my team, spending all of my free time doing robotics (and sometimes playing pickleball with my dad). I spend aroudn 15-20 hr a week when there is no rush, and close to 40 hr when a competition is near. I don’t have time to look for sponsers. Our coaches are also busy, and I don’t know who will be looking, if anyone is looking. If the REC Foundation would at least aknowladge the fact that the price of worlds is hampering many teams form experiancing it, (espeicailly many of the private homeschool teams who don’t have acess to tons of money for coaches, parts, traveling expenses, etc.) I just feel like the RECF’s focus has shifted a bit to focus on bringing STEM to schools specifically.
I guess I shouldn’t complain too much. Vex has given me a great experiance. I just hate haivng the dissapoitment of either knowing I am capable of beating the best (Rapid Relay scheduals hurt so much), or knowing that even if I triple crown at state, I probably wont go, and if I do, have to bear the mental burden of knowing I am the reason several thousands of dollars that could have been spent for other beneficial reasons.
Sorry if this is just coming across as a rant. I am really passionate about this, I’m sure others are too, and I want my voice to be heard. Worlds is becoming inacessable for many people now.
St. Louis is a wide and wonderful space. The “Official Hotels” are expensive. But a little Google work will turn up lower priced Bed and Breakfast places that can work. Off the tourist path food abounds. Be prepared to be stopped by inspectors because they smell smoke. Just tell them you ate at the Stellar Hog.
Worlds is very expensive to run, and the RECF does have many sponsors funding the event. I think I saw somewhere a few years back that the budget for worlds was around 7 million dollars, who knows how much each of the sponsors are willing to pay.
I think he’s referring to the requirement that each team MUST book 2 rooms through TTS this year. This is an increase from previous TTS years.
In addition, the refund/cancellation policy has also gotten much worse.
At least the team registration fee held steady this year.
I have been away from worlds in the past 2 years. Need a bit of catching up - is it mandatory that teams must get the accommodations via Orchid Events?
I vaguely remember seeing somewhere in tne invitation email that we will need to put down the Orchid Events’ reservation code in robotevents else we can’t pay for the worlds registration.
Like @355Y-Coach said, we must book 2 hotel rooms for at least 3 nights. Last year, I think you could just book 1 hotel room for 1 night, and then get an airBnB, saving money on lodging and food (kitchens make things so much easier).
7 million dollars isn’t that much money for a large, well known non-profit to raise. Google and Tesla are already sponsering them, along with several others I can’t remember. There shouldn’t be a reason teams have to pay this much to compete.
So very Sorry, I’m out of the Loop since I don’t do worlds as a competitor. (Other fish to fry) Last time it was one. Getting rates on convention space does mean needing to make guarantees on attendance.
RECF annual report is here: RECF Annual Report 2024-2025 but it may not show the full cost of Worlds since there can be in kind donations. Flipping through it, I saw the multimillion income and multimillion outgo but only $45,000 in net income. That should give indicatications that RECF isn’t making money off these events. Not much of a cushion.
- Select your event:
- VEX Robotics World Championship – VEX IQ Robotics Competition Elementary School Event
- VEX Robotics World Championship – VEX IQ Robotics Competition Middle School Event
- VEX Robotics World Championship – VEX V5 Robotics Competition Middle School Event
- VEX Robotics World Championship – VEX V5 Robotics Competition High School Event
- VEX Robotics World Championship – VEX U Robotics Competition High School Event
edit: mods fixed one link