Skills Ontario 2026 VEX Robotics Results: Winners, Key Takeaways, and How Teams Can Prepare for Next Season
Skills Ontario 2026 VEX Robotics Results: Winners, Key Takeaways, and How Teams Can Prepare for Next Season
If you came looking for the Skills Ontario 2026 VEX Robotics results, the medal winners are listed below by division, medal, student team, and school board.
The 2026 Skills Ontario VEX Robotics competition ran over two days, May 4 and 5, 2026, with 64 teams and more than 250 students competing across VEX IQ and VEX V5 divisions. The event included 32 VEX IQ teams at the elementary level and 32 VEX V5 teams at the secondary level.
This article also explains what the scoreboard does not show: why the podium teams performed so well, why Robot Skills matters, what new coaches often underestimate, and what Ontario schools can do now to prepare for next season.
Skills Ontario 2026 VEX Robotics Event at a Glance
| Detail | Skills Ontario 2026 VEX Robotics |
|---|---|
| Event dates | May 4–5, 2026 |
| Platforms | VEX IQ and VEX V5 |
| Total teams | 64 |
| Total students | More than 250 |
| VEX IQ teams | 32 |
| VEX V5 teams | 32 |
| Elementary divisions | VEX Robotics, Grades 4–6; VEX Robotics, Grades 7–8 |
| Secondary division | VEX V5 Robotics |
Skills Ontario 2026 VEX Robotics Medal Winners
Medals were awarded across three divisions: VEX Robotics for Grades 4 to 6, VEX Robotics for Grades 7 to 8, and VEX V5 Robotics for secondary students.
York Region DSB had a strong showing across the elementary divisions, while London District CSB took gold at the secondary VEX V5 level.
| Division | Medal | Students | School board |
|---|---|---|---|
| VEX Robotics, Grades 4 to 6 | Gold | Darren Z, Henry M, Ethan Z, Riya S | York Region DSB |
| VEX Robotics, Grades 4 to 6 | Silver | Benny L, Cayden X, Jonathan Z, Shaoxuan Y | York Region DSB |
| VEX Robotics, Grades 4 to 6 | Bronze | Ronith M, Ahaan M, Bhavya A, Vihaan A | Halton DSB |
| VEX Robotics, Grades 7 to 8 | Gold | Yameen H, Saksham B, Preston Y, Kanishka J | York Region DSB |
| VEX Robotics, Grades 7 to 8 | Silver | John-Paul C, Joshua M | Niagara Catholic DSB |
| VEX Robotics, Grades 7 to 8 | Bronze | Omolola L, Ahriyen P, Liam L, Kassidy F | Dufferin-Peel Catholic DSB |
| VEX V5 Robotics, Secondary | Gold | Bazhan N, Shreya W, Nathan T, Avery M | London District CSB |
| VEX V5 Robotics, Secondary | Silver | Ayyan H, Keshia A, Olivia W, Robert R | Halton DSB |
| VEX V5 Robotics, Secondary | Bronze | Daniel T, Mohammad-Reza K, Larrisa Y, Ruiqi S | York Region DSB |
Congratulations to every team that competed. Qualifying for Skills Ontario already means a team has worked through a full season of building, coding, testing, troubleshooting, and improving under pressure.
The students who reached the competition floor on May 4 and 5 represented school boards across the province and showed how strong Ontario’s student robotics community has become.
What the Skills Ontario 2026 VEX Results Mean for Next Season
The biggest lesson from the Skills Ontario 2026 VEX results is that successful teams treat the season as a cycle of testing, measuring, improving, and practicing under realistic conditions.
The teams that rise are not always the teams with the most complicated robots. They are often the teams that make fewer preventable mistakes. They know the scoring rules. They practice timed runs. They build reliable autonomous routines. They bring spare parts. They know how to recover when something goes wrong.
For new coaches, this means VEX success is not only about buying the right kit. The kit matters, but the program around it matters more: regular practice time, field access, spare batteries, replacement parts, coding time, driver practice, and enough runway before the event for students to fail safely and improve.
How the Skills Ontario 2026 VEX IQ and VEX V5 Competition Formats Worked
The Skills Ontario 2026 VEX Robotics medals were not decided by a single match. VEX IQ and VEX V5 used different competition formats, and understanding those formats helps explain why Robot Skills preparation mattered.
The VEX IQ Robotics Challenge ran on Monday, May 4, using the 2026 Mix & Match game. VEX IQ teams of two to four students competed in Teamwork Challenge matches, where two robots share the field and cooperate to score, alongside Robot Skills runs that test driver control and autonomous programming.
The VEX V5 Robotics Competition ran on Tuesday, May 5, using the Push Back game. VEX V5 teams of four students competed in head-to-head alliance matches with a 15-second autonomous period followed by a 1:45 driver-controlled period, plus driver and autonomous Robot Skills matches.
VEX V5 Robot Skills match action from Skills Ontario 2026.
| Platform | Skills Ontario 2026 format | Why Robot Skills mattered |
|---|---|---|
| VEX IQ | Teamwork Challenge matches plus Robot Skills | Teamwork results determined medal contention, and Robot Skills helped determine final medal placement. |
| VEX V5 | Alliance matches plus Robot Skills | Robot Skills was decisive for medal placement. A team that did not complete Skills matches could not medal, regardless of alliance-match performance. |
For first-time teams, the practical lesson is simple: Robot Skills is not a side activity. A team that treats Skills as optional puts its podium chances at risk.
Skills Ontario VEX Preparation Advice From Technical Chair Andy Fenos
Andy Fenos is the owner of iDESIGN 365 and serves as a Technical Chair for the Skills Ontario VEX competition. His advice below focuses on the preparation habits, rule knowledge, communication skills, and long-term STEM development that help teams get more out of the VEX Robotics experience.
What habits consistently separate championship teams from the rest of the field?
The habits which we find make teams most successful are time management, coming prepared with strategy, and a readiness to communicate with alliance partners. Championship teams usually do not rely on one last-minute fix or one clever robot feature. They arrive knowing how they want to play the game, how they will use their time, and how they can work with other teams when match conditions change.
What do new VEX teams usually underestimate going into Skills Ontario?
New teams often underestimate the importance of having a full understanding of the game rules. The game manual is extremely in-depth, updated regularly, and covers almost any interaction. Teams that do not study it carefully can miss important scoring details, robot requirements, or match procedures. Strong preparation means treating the manual as part of the competition, not as something to skim only when a question comes up.
How has Skills Ontario adapted to keep robotics competitions aligned with real-world technology?
Each year, VEX gives students a brand new engineering challenge in the form of a game to keep students engaged and ensure each robot is a fresh unique idea. That yearly change is important because it prevents teams from simply repeating the same solution. Students have to analyze a new problem, design around new constraints, test different mechanisms, and think like engineers responding to changing real-world demands.
How does offering both VEX IQ and VEX V5 strengthen Ontario’s STEM pipeline?
Offering both VEX IQ and VEX V5 gives students a clear pathway to pursue engineering and robotics starting as early as 5th grade, helping them build vital teamwork and leadership skills by the time they reach post-secondary and the workplace. VEX IQ gives younger students an approachable starting point, while VEX V5 gives older students a more advanced platform for deeper design, programming, and competitive strategy.
What have you learned from overseeing the competition year after year?
I’ve learned that students will always surprise you with their ingenuity, determination, and eagerness to learn when engaged properly. Every year, teams find creative ways to solve the challenge, recover from setbacks, and improve under pressure. Overseeing the competition shows how much students can accomplish when they are given a meaningful engineering problem, a clear goal, and the opportunity to take ownership of their ideas.
Should Your School Choose VEX IQ or VEX V5?
Most elementary and middle-school teams should start with VEX IQ, while most secondary-school teams should look at VEX V5. The right platform depends on student age, experience, budget, build complexity, and competition goals.
| Platform | Best fit | What students work with | Skills Ontario 2026 division |
|---|---|---|---|
| VEX IQ | Elementary and middle-school students | Snap-together plastic components, sensors, motors, and approachable coding | Grades 4–6 and Grades 7–8 |
| VEX V5 | Secondary students and advanced competition teams | Metal components, more complex mechanisms, more demanding autonomous programming, and deeper engineering strategy | Secondary |
The takeaway for new coaches is to match the platform to the age and experience of the students, not just to ambition. A strong VEX IQ season can build the habits (building, coding, testing, documenting, and improving) that make a future VEX V5 season more successful.
How Ontario Schools Can Prepare a VEX Team for Next Season
If the 2026 results have you thinking about starting or rebuilding a robotics program, begin with the practical conditions that make students competition-ready.
Match the platform to your students
For elementary and middle-school students, start with VEX IQ. For secondary students, look at VEX V5.
This decision affects cost, build complexity, programming expectations, practice setup, and competition readiness.
Plan regular coach and teacher time
Robotics rewards iteration. Students need time to build, test, break, fix, code, drive, and repeat.
A single build day is not enough. Teams need regular supervised practice sessions, especially as competition gets closer.
Budget beyond the base robot kit
A competitive program needs more than one base robot kit. Schools should also plan for field elements, spare parts, batteries, chargers, controllers, and computers running VEXcode.
Spare parts are easy to forget and frustrating to be without on competition day.
Practice timed driver and autonomous runs
Because Robot Skills mattered significantly at Skills Ontario 2026, teams should practice timed driver and autonomous runs well before the event.
Do not wait until the robot is “finished.” Timed practice is part of how students discover what still needs to improve.
Order equipment early
Teams that get equipment months before competition have time to build, test, revise, and recover from mistakes. Teams that order late spend the season catching up.
Ordering early also helps schools avoid the last-minute scramble for parts, field elements, and batteries.
How Ontario Schools Can Choose VEX Equipment for Next Season
Ontario schools choosing VEX equipment should start with the students’ grade level, the competition format, the available practice space, and the parts needed to keep robots running through repeated testing.
iDESIGN 365 is a Canadian STEM and robotics supplier based in Oakville, Ontario. The company carries VEX IQ and VEX V5 kits, parts, accessories, field elements, batteries, chargers, and spares for school robotics programs.
For Ontario schools, the practical advantage is not only product availability. Because Andy Fenos, owner of iDESIGN 365, serves as a Technical Chair for the Skills Ontario VEX competition, the team understands the preparation issues that often affect schools before the event: choosing the right platform, having enough parts to support practice, planning for batteries and chargers, and using field elements to prepare under realistic conditions.
For new programs, that guidance can prevent expensive guessing. For returning teams, it can help identify missing parts, worn components, and preparation gaps before competition season is already underway.
Buying from a Canadian supplier also keeps pricing in Canadian dollars and shipping domestic, which can reduce exchange-rate and customs uncertainty for Ontario schools.
What Ontario VEX Teams Should Do Next
The 2026 Skills Ontario VEX results are in, and next season is already closer than it feels.
If you are setting up a new team or rebuilding a returning one, the most valuable thing you can do is give students enough time to build, test, drive, code, and practice before the event, especially for Robot Skills.
For elementary and middle-school teams, start by reviewing VEX IQ kits and parts. For secondary teams, review VEX V5 kits, parts, field elements, batteries, and spares. If you are not sure what your school needs, iDESIGN 365 can help match equipment to your students’ grade level, available space, budget, and competition goals.
For a deeper preparation checklist, including event readiness, equipment planning, and Skills practice, read iDESIGN 365’s guide to preparing for Skills Ontario VEX Robotics.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won the Skills Ontario 2026 VEX Robotics competition?
Gold medals went to York Region DSB teams in both elementary VEX Robotics divisions and to a London District CSB team in the secondary VEX V5 division. Silver and bronze medals were spread across Halton DSB, Niagara Catholic DSB, Dufferin-Peel Catholic DSB, and York Region DSB. Full medal results by student name and division are listed near the top of this article.
When was the Skills Ontario 2026 VEX competition held?
The VEX Robotics events ran over two days, with the VEX IQ Challenge on Monday, May 4, 2026, and the VEX V5 Competition on Tuesday, May 5, 2026, as part of the Skills Ontario Competition.
How many teams competed in VEX Robotics at Skills Ontario 2026?
Sixty-four teams competed across the two days: 32 VEX IQ teams and 32 VEX V5 teams. More than 250 students took part in total.
What is the difference between VEX IQ and VEX V5?
VEX IQ is a snap-together plastic robotics system for elementary and middle-school students, with no tools required. VEX V5 is a metal-based robotics system for secondary students and advanced competition, supporting more complex mechanisms and more demanding programming. At Skills Ontario 2026, VEX IQ covered the elementary divisions and VEX V5 covered the secondary division.
Why does Robot Skills matter so much at Skills Ontario?
Robot Skills directly affects medal placement. In VEX V5 especially, Robot Skills is decisive for medals, and a team that does not complete its Skills matches cannot medal, regardless of how it performs in alliance play. In VEX IQ, Robot Skills helps determine medal placement among teams in contention.
What is the most common mistake new VEX teams make?
The most common mistake is underestimating the importance of fully understanding the game rules. The VEX game manual is extremely in-depth, updated regularly, and covers almost any interaction teams may face during competition. New teams should study the manual carefully, because strong rule knowledge affects scoring, strategy, robot legality, match procedures, and how confidently students respond on competition day.
How can a school start a VEX Robotics team for next season?
Begin by matching the platform to your students: VEX IQ for elementary and middle-school students, VEX V5 for secondary students. Then plan for coach time, budget for the kit plus spare parts and field elements, and order early so students have months to build, test, and practice before competition.
Where can Ontario schools buy VEX Robotics kits in Canada?
iDESIGN 365 is a Canadian STEM and robotics supplier based in Oakville, Ontario. The company carries VEX IQ and VEX V5 kits, parts, accessories, field elements, batteries, and spares, with pricing in Canadian dollars and domestic shipping. The iDESIGN 365 team can also help schools choose the right platform and equipment for their students’ grade level and competition goals.
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