INSIDE THE BAY AREA’S PREMIER STEM PREP HUB | January 2026
Growing Our Footprint, Strengthening Our Community
January has been an energetic start to the year at Robolabs. With the opening of our Evergreen center in San Jose, a full month of competition across multiple robotics platforms, and a community referral program now underway, this edition highlights the momentum we’re carrying into the months ahead.
Growing Our Presence in San Jose: Evergreen Is Opening
San Jose is one of the most vibrant robotics communities in the Bay Area. As the largest city in the region, it’s home to a growing number of students eager to explore competitive robotics, engineering, and hands-on learning.
Over the past year, our Stevens Creek center has allowed us to serve families across West San Jose, Santa Clara, Cupertino, and Sunnyvale. As interest and participation have continued to grow, expanding our presence within the city became a natural next step.
We’re excited to share that we’re opening a second San Jose location in Evergreen this February, located at 2720 Aborn Road, San Jose, CA 95121. This new center will serve students and families on the east and southeast side of the city while offering the same programs Robolabs is known for, including VEX IQ, VEX V5, FIRST LEGO League (FLL), and First Tech Challenge (FTC).
With our 10-year anniversary approaching, this expansion represents an important milestone — a reflection of the momentum we’re seeing in San Jose and our long-term commitment to building accessible, high-quality learning spaces for the communities we serve.
Share Robolabs, Get Rewarded
Many families join Robolabs through word of mouth, and we’re always grateful for the trust that represents. To say thank you, our referral program is currently active for all families.
When you refer a new family who enrolls, you’ll receive a $100 credit to your account that can be applied toward membership fees. Referrals stack, so multiple referrals can be applied over time.
To celebrate the opening of our Evergreen center, we’re offering a limited-time referral bonus: families who refer a student enrolling specifically at the Evergreen location will receive a $150 credit instead.
To participate, new families simply list the referring family’s name during sign-up and send us a quick email. We’ll take care of the rest.
A Big Month of Robotics Competition
January was an especially active month across Robolabs, with tournaments spanning three different competitive programs. Over the course of the month, we hosted events in VEX AI, VEX IQ, and VEX V5, giving students opportunities to compete and grow across multiple levels of robotics.
Hosting events across multiple programs in a single month requires significant coordination and community support, and we’re grateful to the teams, staff, volunteers, and families who made it possible. While many organizations host one tournament per season, being able to support three competitive programs in one month reflects the strength of our community and shared commitment to student learning.
Our students performed strongly throughout the month and, just as importantly, gained valuable experience in teamwork, problem-solving, and competing under real-world conditions.
💡 RoboFacts: CREATE U.S. Open Robotics Tournament
Each year, Robolabs teams compete at the CREATE U.S. Open Robotics Tournament, one of the largest and most competitive national events in VEX robotics. Often referred to as “Nationals,” the U.S. Open brings together top teams from across the country and around the world.
Teams earn an invitation to the U.S. Open by winning specific awards at official regional competitions, making qualification itself a meaningful achievement. This year, Robolabs is sending 10 teams, including six high school teams, three middle school teams, and one elementary school team, to compete at this national-level event.
Hosted by the CREATE Foundation, the U.S. Open is known not only for its high standard of competition, but also for its emphasis on sportsmanship, student growth, and engineering excellence. For many students, competing at Nationals is a defining experience and one of the highest levels of competition in the VEX ecosystem.
From Idea to Patent to Publication
We officially launched Batch 13 of the Robolabs Innovation Academy this January, our flagship 18-month program designed to help students go from idea to invention — and beyond.
In the first year, students develop a real-world solution to a problem they care about and file a provisional or utility patent. In the final stretch, they write and publish a research paper based on their innovation. The program is fully online, highly collaborative, and guided by experienced mentors throughout.
The Innovation Academy is a great fit for students who want to:
Extend what they’ve learned in robotics into real-world applications
Build a college-ready portfolio that showcases creativity, initiative, and depth
Collaborate with a driven cohort of peers from across the country
While Batch 13 kicked off in early January, only a few sessions have taken place, and it’s not too late to join the project. If you’re interested — or know a student who would thrive in this environment — we encourage you to reach out soon, as spaces are limited and cohorts tend to fill quickly.
Tournament season is in full swing with VEX IQ and V5 events scheduled through December. Circle these dates and get ready - every tournament is a chance to qualify for states!
Robolabs Offerings
Robotics Classes
Hands-on and immersive VEX and FIRST Robotics for kindergarten - 12th grade.
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INSIDE THE BAY AREA’S PREMIER STEM PREP HUB | December 2025
Our Most Eventful Year Yet
This special edition of RoboRumbles is a reflection on a defining year for Robolabs. In 2025, we expanded our impact beyond any year before, supporting thousands of students through competitions, community events, and learning experiences, while continuing to invest deeply in the students and teams at the heart of our organization. Through the lens of external impact and internal commitment, this recap highlights what it takes to build meaningful platforms, sustain a thriving community, and uphold standards of excellence. As we approach our 10th anniversary in 2026, we're reminded that great things take time. This didn't start yesterday, and the work continues.
Robolabs has been building competitive robotics platforms for years, but in 2025 that commitment reached a new scale. This was our most event-heavy year to date, with 14+ tournaments empowering over 3,800 students across Northern California and beyond. From the VEX IQ NorCal Regional Championship to the One World VEX V5 Signature Event, both held at UC Berkeley, we created stages where young engineers could compete, collaborate, and belong.
These tournaments are not easy to run, nor are they driven by convenience or profit. They require months of preparation, deep operational expertise, and the coordinated effort of dozens of people working behind the scenes. We do this because these spaces matter. Competitive robotics gives engineering-minded students a place to belong, to strive, and to grow. It keeps our community alive, connected, and thriving.
Looking ahead, that commitment continues: in June 2026, Robolabs will host the VEX AI World Championship at UC Berkeley for the first time. We are deeply grateful to play a role in sustaining and strengthening a community that gives so much back.
While Robolabs serves the broader community, our deepest responsibility is to the students and families who trust us every day. In 2025, that commitment showed itself in both outcomes and culture.
Our students earned top honors on the world's most competitive stages, from Asia to Mexico to the VEX World Championship. But they also went far beyond competition: 30+ students became published authors and researchers through Innovation Academy, 20+ students became inventors across our innovation cohorts, and 30+ students mastered college-level AI at our Summer Academy at UC Berkeley, tackling machine learning, computer vision, and transformer architectures rarely seen in K-12 education.
These achievements reflect more than talent. They reflect diligence, sustained effort, and a shared belief in doing hard things well. Inside our labs and programs, excellence is not an accident. It is a standard we work to uphold for the people who make Robolabs possible in the first place.
From Idea to Patent to Publication
Applications are now open for Batch 13 of the Robolabs Innovation Academy, our flagship 18-month program where students go from idea to invention—and beyond.
In the first year, students develop a unique solution to a real-world problem and file a provisional or utility patent. In the final stretch, they write and publish a research paper based on their innovation. The entire experience is fully online, collaborative, and led by experienced mentors.
This program is ideal for students who want to:
Extend what they've learned in robotics into real-world applications
Build a college-ready portfolio that showcases creativity and initiative
Collaborate with a driven cohort of peers from across the country
Batch 13 kicks off the first week of January, and spaces are limited. If you're interested or know someone who would thrive in this environment, reach out soon—these cohorts fill up fast.
Give your child a head start in technology and innovation with our 6-month App Development Course starting this January!
In just 1 hour per week, students will:
Gain valuable skills in app development
Create and publish their very own app on the App Store
This is a unique opportunity to build practical skills for the future and strengthen college applications. Batch 2 kicks off the first week of January—spots are limited, so secure your child's place today!
Tournament season is in full swing with VEX IQ and V5 events scheduled through December. Circle these dates and get ready - every tournament is a chance to qualify for states!
Robolabs Offerings
Robotics Classes
Hands-on and immersive VEX and FIRST Robotics for kindergarten - 12th grade.
View email in browser Copyright (C) 2025 ROBOLABS, Dublin Robotics Club LLC. All rights reserved. You are receiving this email as part of the Robolabs Community
Our mailing address is: ROBOLABS, Dublin Robotics Club LLC 6500 Dublin Blvd Suite C Dublin, CA 94568-3151 USA update your preferences or unsubscribe
