The VEX Robotics community has always been built on innovation, accessibility, and student engineering. For years, the VEX Robotics Competition has challenged students not just to build robots, but to think like real engineers — balancing power, efficiency, strategy, and creativity.

The newly introduced 55-watt drivetrain limit threatens those values.

Why This Rule Hurts Teams:
VEX currently offers 11-watt motors and 5.5-watt motors. By setting the drivetrain limit at 55 watts, teams are effectively pushed to purchase half motors to remain competitive.

This is not a design challenge — it is a purchasing requirement.

Teams that already own working drivetrain materials such as full motors must now spend additional money simply to comply competitively. Robotics education should reward engineering decisions, not force new hardware purchases.

Increased Costs and Competitive Inequality
The rule places teams in an unfair position:

Run existing drivetrains competitive RPM at reduced wattage and risk increased motor failure.
Build slower drivetrains to ensure not to damage motors and lose competitive performance.
Well-funded teams can afford constant motor replacement. Many school and community teams cannot. The result will be a larger competitive gap between high-budget programs and teams with limited resources — the opposite of what an educational competition should promote.

Loss of Engineering Innovation:
In past seasons, one of the most challenging and educational design problems was power management. Teams had to decide how to allocate limited wattage across the entire robot — often dedicating high power to drivetrains while engineering mechanisms to operate efficiently.

That challenge encouraged creativity, strategic thinking, and genuine engineering problem-solving. The 55-watt limit removes one of the most intellectually engaging aspects of VEX robot design.

Our Request:
We ask VEX Robotics leadership to:

Remove or revise the 55-watt drivetrain restriction, and
Preserve competitive fairness without forcing teams into additional purchases.
VEX Robotics should remain a program where innovation determines success — not spending power.

If you believe robotics education should prioritize engineering creativity, accessibility, and fairness, please sign and share this petition.

Let students engineer solutions — not purchase them.