For the fourth year in a row, Belmont Hill traveled to the VEX World Championships, hosted this year in Saint Louis. At the championship, teams competed in a game called Push Back, which involved scoring blocks into horizontal tube-shaped goals. Each match is a 2v2 and combines preprogrammed code and driver control, played on a 12ft by 12ft field. On the field, there are four goals, two long ones on the left and right sides, about a foot and a half above the ground, and two shorter goals in the middle, which are at a lower elevation. Ryan Chang-Wu ’27 describes, “It is very fast-paced and always keeps you on your toes.” The 2026 World Championships featured teams from over 60 countries, with the majority of teams from North America, but also many from China and Western Europe.
A typical VEX tournament features multiple phases. First, robots must be inspected to ensure they adhere to all the rules. Afterward, the matches begin. A random schedule is generated so that each team plays multiple matches throughout the day. Each win is worth two win points, each tie is worth one point, and a loss is worth zero points. Throughout the day, a ranking system is generated based on the number of win points. Afterward, alliances for elimination rounds are created. The first-ranked team gets the first pick, and so on. After a 16-team bracket system, tournament winners are determined. Awards are also given to teams with clear documentation and descriptive interviews. Michael Guo ’30 describes, “It was very fun to participate in the tournament. I met so many people from all over the world. It was great to play with and against teams from so many different places.”
This year, the high school team Milk and Cookies placed 72nd in their division in the qualification rankings and secured a second interview, narrowly missing out on a judged award. In skills, which is a solo challenge focused on achieving a high score, they placed in the top 125 out of the entire tournament. The middle school team Latin Long Block placed 68th in their division and 146th overall in skills. These teams mark Belmont Hill’s fifth and sixth teams to qualify for the VEX World Championships.
In mid-May, the Belmont Hill Drone Team headed to Detroit for its national championship. In a competition that featured teams across all 50 states, the BH team finished second overall, ranking in the top of each event. Additionally, they won the Diamond Award for their branding and refinement. The second drone team won the prestigious Video Presentation Champion for their dynamic team marketing video.
The tournament was part of a larger conference, the Xponential Drone conference, focused on AI, relations between government and industry, defense autonomy, air mobility, and maritime drones. Co-located with the Michigan Defense Expo, which was attended by 3,000 professionals in advanced manufacturing, the conference featured a vast number of individual drone booths. According to Adrian Chen ’28, “It was awesome. We saw so many different kinds of drones, all the way from the military to the commercial sector. It was a truly unique experience.”
The Panel congratulates the robotics and drones teams for their success and wishes them luck with their future competitions.
