The King’s Academy VEX robotics teams recently showcased their incredible talent and innovation at the World Championships in Dallas, Texas, and came home with some serious hardware! This year’s challenge, ‘Spin Up,’ was essentially disc golf for robots, and our teams arrived with groundbreaking designs.

One of our teams, in particular, competed with a truly novel approach that caught the judges’ attention. They incorporated an innovative side-loading match load system that allowed them to shoot discs with precision directly from the loading position while flush against the wall. This made scoring match load discs incredibly efficient and consistent. This design was so unique that only one other team, in a completely different division, was attempting something similar. For this outstanding ingenuity, the team was honored with a prestigious Design Award at the VEX World Championship!

Beyond this award-winning design, their approach to the end-game expansion, where their robot effectively covered the field for maximum points, was also noteworthy. It was fantastic to see their hard work in design and programming pay off. For the first time, we were thrilled to bring two teams to this prestigious event, both competing in the JROTC division.

Both TKA teams performed admirably, demonstrating excellent collaboration and skill to make it out of the tough qualification rounds. Unfortunately, in what was shaping up to be a nail-biting final round for one of our bots, a bad connection cruelly doomed their chances. The robot was left unable to move, leading to a loss by just a few crucial points.

This year, it was Josh representing the family on the robotics front, as Isabel decided not to participate in JROTC this year. Despite the heart-wrenching finish for one bot, winning a Design Award at Worlds and the overall experience made it a great tournament, filled with learning, competition, and the spirit of innovation. We’re incredibly proud of all their achievements!