Team Momento Mori at the 2025 VEX Robotics World Championship

The green-skills gap is real, and if current trends continue, approximately 50% of jobs in the green economy will lack qualified candidates [1]. To meet the demands of a net-zero world, we need to equip school leavers and early career talent with green skills.

We spoke to 6^th form students Maddy Bell, Yasmin Meehan and Milan Gal about their journey from an after-school robotics club to the VEX 2025 World Championship that took place in Dallas earlier this month. They finished 37^th in the world within their division – a remarkable feat for a truly independent team in a fiercely competitive field.

In this interview, we explore how they started, their challenges and proudest moments, their interests in STEM, the skills they developed, and the relationships they have built in the robotics community.

Where did your journey in robotics start?

We started 6 years ago in year 7. Our design technology teacher was super passionate about design and robotics and encouraged us to go to the after-school club where we could experiment more.

Tell us about the VEX competitions - how do they work?

We originally started with VEX IQ robots which are smaller and a bit easier to design and build - this helps the younger students get involved. We then progressed to larger aluminum-based robots and team competitions.

VEX matches put you into alliances with 2 teams competing against each other. The aim is to score points by scoring blocks (there are a total of 88 blocks on offer) in goals or controlling zones within goals or parking in defined zones at the end of the match. Matches are 2 minutes long – the first 15 seconds is autonomous driving, and the remaining 1 minute 45 seconds are driver controlled. As it’s trickier – more points are awarded for goals in the autonomous part. To make things even more challenging, alliances can get bonus points for completing “autons”.

Tell us a bit about “autons” for those who may not know?

An “auton” is lingo for an autonomous task. We code the robot to perform specific tasks – for example, Ring Rush – which is the most difficult and involves picking up and stacking as many rings as possible and then getting them into a goal. It requires a huge amount of precision. Extra points are awarded to alliances for completing tasks within competitions.

How have you transitioned from an after-school class to 37^th in the world?

Competitions and the robot build were much simpler when we first started – the aim was to collect as many points as possible. In our first year of VEX, we almost made the world championships, but it got called off due to COVID. From this point, our goals became global, we won the 2022 UK championships and had the chance to compete in the world championship. In 2024, we won the UK championships again and headed to Dallas for the world championship.

How were the VEX World Championships?

There were 820 teams competing – the majority from the US. It was more competitive than the UK championships. There was a parade of nations with over 10,000 people.

So many things can impact robot performance, such as humidity. In Dallas this impacted how far the robot could throw disks as it would impact the flywheel speed. It really tests your ability to solve problems on the spot!

What do you do post competition to celebrate? Any pre-tournament rituals?

No pre-tournament rituals. But post tournament (if it’s a Sunday) – we take a day off to relax.

How did you go about designing, building and testing the robot?

At the beginning of each year, we’d build a specification list (what the robot needs to do). We’d test the robot by looking at speed, time taken to score, time taken to complete tasks. We came across many trade-offs, for example, between speed and torque. Too much torque and the engine overheats = not good! We’d bring fans to our tournaments to cool it down. After each tournament, we’d rank the items in the specification list to figure out what is and isn’t important. We also need to complete and submit an Engineering Workbook explaining our approach – 80,000 words in total.

What sort of data did you use to measure the robot's performance?

We’d use qualitative data such as time to complete tasks, wattage output, robot “brain” readings, and force testing using Newton meters, but also re-watch our matches to analyse our performance. There is also a “trust skill” metric that VEX use to rank you against the rest of the world – we got up to 6^th in the world last year.

The VEX community is super competitive but it is also great for learning from each other and improving. Discord communities are set up for people to share ideas and make friends and SCRIM (read on for more on these). People have even created their own coding tools to make things better for everyone.

VEX is all about the community.

Who has the best team name on the VEX circuit?

We loved team Kachigga and the Jugglenauts – the team can actually juggle. 

What have been the biggest challenges you’ve faced?

The mental challenge. Sometimes we can spend hours working on the robot and don’t see any progress. We can spend all weekend and get half an auton completed. If an auton doesn’t work, it can also be frustrating. There have also been a couple of disqualifications and decisions that haven’t gone our way. There are a lot of rules to follow. We now get involved in refereeing matches for some of the younger teams – some as young as 10 years old.

What has been your proudest moment?

Winning the UK Nationals in 2022. We went in not really knowing how good we were and when we won – it felt amazing.

How have you managed to fit this in alongside your schoolwork?

We dedicate several hours a week, but in the lead up to the world championships this year, we’d spend our weekends preparing for competition – fueled by Yasmin’s pasta. There are also informal battles called SCRIMs which are hosted by students which give you an opportunity to practice outside of competitions.

What do you like about STEM?

The ability to work through a tangible problem with numbers and materialise our ideas.

What’s next for you as a team?

For now, it’s back to schoolwork and university applications.

A huge congratulations from the Oaklin team to Maddy, Yasmin and Milan on their performances over the year. It’s truly a joy to see such passion for STEM and we wish you the best of luck in your studies and careers.