General Info

VEX IQ IN THE 852 – 2026

Welcome to the 852!

American International School Hong Kong is excited to welcome teams from across Hong Kong for the second annual VEX IQ IN THE 852!

Following an incredible inaugural event, we are looking forward to bringing our robotics community together once again for a full day of engineering, competition, collaboration, creativity, and fun.

VEX IQ IN THE 852 is a local qualifying event for the Hong Kong Tech Challenge Junior 2027 VEX IQ – Hong Kong Championship.

 

Event Information

Date: Wednesday, December 2, 2026
Location: American International School Hong Kong
Address: 125 Waterloo Road, Kowloon Tong
Competition Platform: VEX IQ Robotics Competition
Current Season Game: Level Up™
Grade Levels: Blended Elementary & Middle School
Skills Challenge: Yes
Judging Format: All In-Person Judging

More than a competition, VEX IQ IN THE 852 aims to be a celebration of student engineering and learning. We place a strong emphasis on student-centered learning, sportsmanship, collaboration, creative problem-solving, and community.

That spirit is captured perfectly in the Global Robotics & Science Foundation's philosophy:

Learning is Everything. Winning is a goal. Have fun.

That is the culture we want throughout VEX IQ IN THE 852.

Registration Fee

The registration fee is HK$500 per team.

Volunteer & Compete

VEX IQ IN THE 852 is a community event, and we would love to have coaches, teachers, mentors, and other adults from participating schools help us make the day possible.

Each participating school may have the HK$500 registration fee waived for one team by providing an adult volunteer to serve in an official event role, such as a judge or referee.

Volunteering is also a great way for coaches to step away from their own teams for the day, experience the competition from another perspective, connect with colleagues from across Hong Kong, and contribute to a fair and positive experience for all of our student engineers.

To volunteer and receive the one-team fee waiver, please contact Jeremy Green at [email protected] by November 13, 2026.

Payment Information

Payment may be made through either of the following methods:

FPS: [email protected]

eBanking / ATM / Internet Banking
American International School
HSBC: 004-502-861560-001

Please include the following payment reference:

Team Number + School Name + Dec 2 Robotics Tournament

After payment, please email the payment slip to [email protected]. AIS will issue a receipt following confirmation of payment.

Payment Deadline: 1-Dec-2026 09:00 PM (Hong Kong Time)

The Culture of VEX IQ IN THE 852

Learning is Everything. Winning is a Goal. Have Fun.

VEX IQ IN THE 852 follows the Global Robotics & Science Foundation Student-Centered Policy.

At the heart of that policy is a simple idea: the work belongs to the students because the learning comes from doing the work themselves.

Throughout a robotics season, students have an extraordinary opportunity to experience the entire engineering process. They design, build, code, test, develop strategies, drive, and communicate their thinking. 

At VEX IQ IN THE 852, we want students to have ownership of that entire experience.

Students Do the Work

The robot, code, Engineering Notebook, strategy, and the decisions behind them belong to the students.

Adults are absolutely an important part of a young engineer's journey. Coaches, teachers, mentors, and families teach skills, ask questions, provide resources, encourage students, and help create opportunities for learning.

But when competition day arrives, our young engineers should be the engineers.

Students should make their own decisions, solve their own problems, repair and modify their own robots, develop their own strategies, and communicate their own ideas.

Sometimes that means watching students make a decision that we, as adults, might have made differently.

That's okay, and more importantly, it's learning in progress. Our engineers become stronger through healthy struggle. 

Students Can Explain Their Work

Students should also be able to explain the work their team has completed.

No individual student needs to know every detail of the robot, code, notebook, or strategy. Different students will naturally develop different areas of expertise. Collectively, however, the team should be able to demonstrate understanding of the work they are presenting.

Our judges are excited to hear students talk about what they built, why they built it, what worked, what didn't work, what they changed, and what they learned along the way.

That story is just as important as the robot sitting on the table.

A Competition Run by Students

During VEX IQ IN THE 852, coaches and mentors are asked to give their teams the space to take ownership of the experience.

Coaches should not:

• repair, build, or modify student robots;

• provide coding assistance during the competition;

• direct match strategy or engineering decisions;

• participate in student judging interviews; or

• take over troubleshooting when something goes wrong.

We also encourage coaches to give students some independence in the pit area rather than remaining beside their teams throughout the day.

This is not about removing adults from the experience. It is about giving students the opportunity to demonstrate what they can do.

See you December 2 at VEX IQ IN THE 852!

Grade Level: All

Skills Challenge Offered: Yes

Judging Format: All In-Person Judging