Molokai Robotics Pulls Historic Win at States

Molokai Middle School students recently won the single-robot division at the 2026 Hawaii VEX V5 Robotics Competition. Contributed photo

By Léo Azambuja

A Molokai Robotics team made history at the 2026 Hawaii VEX V5 Robotics Competition Regional Championship by claiming an unprecedented win and earning statewide recognition for their engineering excellence and competitive spirit a couple weeks ago.

“I’m proud of our kids,” said Edwin Mendij, robotics teacher at Molokai Middle and High schools. “I cannot stress enough; we work at a real disadvantage compared to every other program in the state.”

Molokai Robotics Team 1037M — consisting of 7th, 8th and 9th graders — stood out among 20 other Hawaii school, club and home teams competing in the Middle School division Feb. 14 and 15 at the Hawaii Army National Guard facility in Kapolei, 

In a historic moment for the program, Mendija said, the 1037M team won the 2026 Hawaii VEX Robotics Robot Skills Championship, marking the team’s first major championship title.

Mendija said students engineer robots to compete against robots from other schools. It’s a different game every year, with different teams and designs. Usually, students make alliances with other teams to compete. So two robots compete against two robots to see which team will score the most possible points. But in the case of Molokai Robotics’ win, the credit is all theirs.

“What we won is the single-robot competition, where the robot just scores as many points as possible,” Mendija said. 

Teams 1037C and 1037X also represented Molokai in the High School division against 30 other teams, with 1037X placing 6th in the Robot Skills category and 10th in tournament qualifiers.

Mendija said both teams fought hard in qualification matches, and eventually formed an alliance together for playoffs, making it into the quarterfinals, but losing to the eventual tournament champions.

With these results, Molokai Robotics is looking at a possible invite for the 2026 VEX Robotics World Championship, taking place April 21-27 in St Louis, Missouri.

Mendija said 18 Molokai students competed in the 2026 Hawaii VEX V5 Robotics Competition Regional Championship. The students, he said, learn STEM skills — computer science, math, engineering, design and different concepts. There is a mechanical aspect, as the students learn how to fabricate parts, assemble and disassemble the robots. They also learn physics’ concepts, such as gear ratios and calculating RPM.

“Besides that, they’re learning teamwork skills, communication skills, leadership skills, organization skills, keeping deadlines, scheduling, and of course, balancing it with the rest of their school life and whatever else they have going on,” Mendija said. 

Molokai, he said, is at a disadvantage with other programs around the states, both financial and logistical.

“We’re the only program on Molokai, so we have to travel to compete,” Mendija said, adding it gets expensive to compete on other islands. “We’re just practicing within our own organization. A lot of the other teams out there, they get to practice, go to different competitions multiple times a year.”

This season, the Molokai teams went to only one event before the states, while other teams on other islands are able to go to five or six events throughout the school years. For Molokai to be competitive as they are, he said, even with all the disadvantages, just shows they are at a high level.

“I think we would be even better if we could get out more often and compete more often,” Mendija said. 

Next up for the team is the 2026 FRC Hawaii Regional taking place March 19-22 at St Louis High School on Oahu.

Molokai Robotics thanked their sponsors, Gary O Galiher Foundation, Glenn W Bailey Foundation, Maui Economic Development Board, Leidos, Gene Haas, Intuitive Foundation, Argosy, and K&K Mathews for getting them through the 2025-2026 season so far.

Visit www.molokairobotics.org for more information.