WVU hosts 3rd annual VEX Robotics tournament, challenges college, middle and high school students

West Virginia University robotics team members with their robot, WVU R1, in the ring at the third annual VEX Robotics Tournament hosted by the WVU Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources. (WVU Photo/Dave Ryan)

The Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources at West Virginia University hosted the 2025 VEX Robotics competition this weekend, where 71 teams put their coding and engineering skills to the test for a chance to qualify for the upcoming state and regional tournaments. Winning teams have the opportunity to advance all the way to the VEX Robotics World Championship hosted in Dallas, Texas from April 25-May 3.

Story by Kaley LaQuea, Marketing Strategist and Laney Eichelberger, Storyteller
Photos by Megan Rinker, Mackenzie Randall, Dave Ryan and Paige Nesbit

Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Twelve teams from West Virginia, New Jersey, New York and Maryland competed at the university level on Friday, with the RIT Tigers from Rochester Institute of Technology coming in first place. Team AYO from Woodbridge, VA earned second place and third place was awarded to WVU’s team, WVU Robotics.

The Design Award was awarded to the WVU team in recognition of their organized, strategic and collaborative approach to developing their robots and maintaining records of their process. Although this doesn't guarantee qualification for the world championship, it brings them one step closer.

Thirty-two West Virginia high school teams competed for glory on Saturday. Team Iron Patriots: Yikes from Wheeling Park High School won first place, while team Wasted Energy from Chesapeake High School earned second and Iron Patriots: X-RAY from Wheeling Park High School came in third. High school winning teams now have the opportunity to advance to the regional competition, and will receive a $1,500 scholarship if they decide to attend the Statler College. 

On Sunday, 27 middle school teams from across West Virginia vied for victory, with team Robo-Raiders from Triadelphia Middle School earning first place. Teams Steel Viking from Warwood School and Quantum Mechanics from Westwood Middle School earned second and third place, respectively. Middle school winners received $425 in scholarships for Statler’s Engineering Challenge Camps and will now qualify for the state tournament.

This year’s game, High Stakes, challenged teams to place plastic rings on stakes positioned throughout the arena. Teams earned more points for getting a ring onto taller goal posts in the center of the competition field. 

Ethan Matz, a freshman robotics and mechanical engineering student from Wheeling, helped design and build WVU’s competition robot this year. Matz competed at the VEX high school level before coming to Statler College. Ahead of Friday’s competition, Matz and his teammates logged countless hours in the lab, tweaking the robot to prepare for any number of scenarios it might encounter during the tournament. 

“It’s always something tiny you can’t represent in CAD,” team president and computer science major Andrew Sarver said as he adjusted a piston that was preventing one of the robot’s wheels from driving straight. “We’re trying to find these issues before the competition.”

For this year’s game, the WVU team developed two intake sections at the base of their robot to lift the plastic rings up off the ground, sending them up a ramp to an arm with hooks that flips the ring onto the goal post. Though the higher goals were worth more points, the team’s strategy revolved around ensuring that the robot had versatile capabilities to acquire points via the ground-level goal posts around the competition field. 

VEX competition rules can change up until the day before the tournament, so teams have to pay close attention and come prepared.

“You have to drive it around and see what goes wrong as you’re driving it around, then fix it on the spot,” junior cybersecurity student Evan Anderson said. Tournament schedules are randomly generated, so teams may have just five minutes — or zero — between matches to fix something if it breaks.

“It takes a lot of time and dedication to do this,” Sarver explained. “You have to be in here for a lot of hours every day to get these working. Nothing ever goes to plan, so you really have to be in here and practice to see what goes wrong, because sometimes everything can go wrong.”

During the tournament, 3D-printed parts on the WVU team’s robot broke. Despite complications, the team was proud to demonstrate their hard work and expertise.

"We did some scouting beforehand to see which teams were around our skill level, and we were concerned with RIT's driving skills," said Sarver. "They were just as good as expected but we were the only team who didn't lose to them during qualifications, with a 24–24 tie. We felt pretty good after that because it gave us a sense of validation that we are a world-class team."

As VEX has gotten more competitive at the university level, more teams are utilizing advanced fabrication techniques like computer numerical control (CNC) and third-party software. Some teams, like Purdue University, have over 100 members and extensive resources.

“It’s always a completely new challenge and every team — like their skill level — just keeps getting better and better, so we can’t stay stagnant and still compete. We saw that last year,” Anderson said.

Though the WVU team didn’t qualify last year, they ranked 13th in their division globally at the 2023 VEX World Championships. WVU’s team was able to purchase a 3D printer through a Student Government Association grant, and most of the filament and tools the team uses are donated by members. Sarver hopes to acquire a second printer to ensure the team maintains a competitive edge.

To learn more about robotics program offerings and sponsorship opportunities here in the Statler College, visit the WVU robotics website or contact Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Department Chair Jason Gross. 

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