General Info
General Info
This year's VEX V5 Robotics Competition Spotlight Event in Maine will be held on October 30 - November 1 in 2026. This event will of course be a great opportunity for teams to compete with others from around the nation and world and experiment with early to mid season strategies.
The event will be held at the University of Maine in Orono in their spacious and airy field house.
Teams will compete over the course of 3 days for the title of Lobstah Bowl Champions.
Lobster Feast
Due to inadequate interest, the Lobster Dinner has been cancelled. If you are still looking for a great lobster dinner, there are a number of good restaurants in the area.
High Tide in Brewer, Maine
Pepper's Landing in Old Town Maine
Are a couple.
Saturday Night
Teams are encouraged to set up a trick or treat station at thier pit tables on Saturday!
Apparel
If you would like some apparel to wear at or after the event, we have put together some options on CustomInk.
The Venue
The University is the flagship campus for the University of Maine System and is an R1 research University. It is also the home to the Advanced Structures and Composites Center, an advanced engineering and research facility that is home to the worlds largest 3D printers. Tours will be available to attendees throughout the duration of the event.
General Event Details
Skills matches will start in the afternoon of Day 1 with checkin, inspection starting at noon.
Day 2 will be Qualifications and Skills
Day 3 will finish matches and move to eliminations and finals in the late afternoon.
Payment deadline for the event is October 16th. If your school or orginization requires a lengthy period to process payment or cut a check, please start this process as soon as your teams have registered.
This event will advance 2 teams to the VEX Robotics World Championships: High School Excellence Award (1) and Middle School Excellence Award (1) as long as the 10 team threshhold is met for each category.
Three additional awards will be given...
Best team costume to be work on Halloween Lobster themes get bonus points.
Best Robot costume... Lobster theme gets bonus points
Grand Prix Winner - Field House track race, fastest long distance runner(robot) gets Grand Prix trophy.
*World Spot Eligibility:
Spotlight Events will be awarded World Championship qualification spots if they meet all established criteria set forth by the Global Robotics and Science Foundation. Failure to fully comply with these criteria may result in the event being ineligible to receive World spots, regardless of prior expectations or historical precedent.
- Venue
- Memorial Gym
- Address
- Memorial Gym, Bennett, 18 Gym Dr, Orono, ME 04473, Orono, Maine 04473, United States
- Dates
- October 30 – November 1, 2026
- Grade Level
- High School and Middle School
- Skills Challenge
- Yes
- Judging Format
- All In-Person Judging Team Interviews with Remote Notebook Judging Submission. Notebooks shall be submitted by the notebook submission deadline: October 16, 2026.
- Worlds Qualifying Spots
-
- (1) High School Excellence Award
- (1) Middle School Excellence Award
Registration & Logistics
- Event Type
- Open Tournament
- Event Format
- In-Person
- Field Control
- Smart Field Control
- Capacity
- 80
- Spots Open
- 43
- Event Region
- Maine
- Max Registrations per Org
- 6
- Priority Registration Opens
- 10-Aug-2026 00:00 EDT
- Standard Registration Opens
- 4-Sep-2026 00:00 EDT
- Registration Deadline
- 23-Oct-2026 00:00 EDT
- Payment Deadline
- 18-Sep-2026 16:00 EDT
- Price
- $200.00
Agenda
08:30:00 AM
08:30:00 AM
08:30:00 AM
09:00:00 AM
Registration closes
Drivers meeting
09:00:00 AM 09:30:00 AM Opening Ceremonies 09:45:00 AM 06:00:00 PM Skills Area Open 10:00:00 AM 02:00:00 PM Tours 09:45:00 AM 11:15:00 AM Practice Matches 11:15:00 AM 12:00:00 PM Qualification Matches 12:00:00 PM 01:30:00 PM Lunch Break 01:30:00 PM 06:00:00 PM Qualification Matches 06:00:00 PM Lobstah Dinner November 1, 2026 Start Time End Time Activity 08:00:00 AM 05:00:00 PM Pits Open for Teams 08:00:00 AM 05:00:00 PM Practice Fields Open 08:30:00 AM 11:00:00 PM Qualification Matches 08:30:00 AM 02:00:00 PM Skills Area Open 11:00:00 PM 12:30:00 PM Lunch Break 12:30:00 PM 02:00:00 PM Qualification Matches 02:15:00 PM 02:45:00 PM Alliance Selection 03:00:00 PM 05:00:00 PM Eliminations, Finals and Awards 05:00:00 PM 06:00:00 PM All Teams Clean Out PitsStream
Webcast Saturday -To be determined Sunday -To be determined
Judging Format
Judging Format Digital Engineering Notebook Submissions / In Person Team Interviews: Team interviews will be conducted in-person at the event. Engineering notebooks will be submitted digitally for evaluation via a link found within the "My Account" panel of the team contact on VEXEvents. Notebooks are due by October 16, 2026.
Volunteer
Volunteer If you wish to volunteer, pelase fill out the volunteer form at https://forms.gle/Cjan2pHLdVvtKgAs8 or contact Elisa Tankel at etankel@yahoo.com
Emergency/Bad-Weather Policy
Emergency/Bad Weather Policy In the event of bad weather, a decision will be made on how the competition will proceed and any changes will be communicated to teams via the main contact email address and/or via live announcment in the venue. This may include a delayed start or early end to matches on a competitoin day, extending or modifying hours on some days, or removal of matches from the competition schedule in order to complete the event. Every effort will be reasonably made to continue the event as planned.
- Excellence Award - High School (V5)
- Excellence Award - Middle School (V5)
- Excellence Award (V5)
- Tournament Champions (V5)
- Design Award (V5)
- Robot Skills Champion (V5)
- Robot Skills 2nd Place (V5)
- Tournament Finalists (V5)
- Amaze Award (V5)
- Build Award (V5)
- Create Award (V5)
- Innovate Award (V5)
- Judges Award (V5)
- Sportsmanship Award (V5)
- Think Award (V5)