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Dozens of students holding their combat robots around the arena at Fall Brawl, a Placer Robotics competition

Since 2018

From five students to a regional robotics community

Placer Robotics began with five students in 2018. Today, 202 competition team members build and compete across VEX IQ, VEX V5, and combat robotics — and through camps, workshops, school activities, and the competitions we host, 2,500+ students reached each year.

5students when we began in 2018
202students on competition teams in 2026–27
47IQ, V5, and combat teams in 2026–27
17competitions we hosted in 2025–26

Then and now

What robotics looked like here in 2018

When Placer Robotics began, the only VEX teams in Placer County were at Cavitt. There were no high-school VEX teams, no local VEX leagues, qualifiers, or championships, and no youth combat competitions. The nearest VEX league events were in Elk Grove.

2018

  • Five Placer Robotics students
  • Cavitt had the county's only VEX teams
  • No high-school VEX teams
  • No local leagues, qualifiers, or championships
  • No youth combat competitions

Today

  • An elementary-through-high-school pathway
  • Local VEX leagues, qualifiers, and championships
  • Youth combat competitions
  • Locally built competition arenas
  • School programs running independently

Results since 2018

Growth created more than larger teams

As participation grew, experienced students created the next opportunity — first camps, then competition programs, then leagues and mentoring.

5 at founding202 so farFounded 20182020–212022–232024–252026–27
2026–27 is in progress — its roster is still filling.
Students on competition teams, season by season
SeasonStudents
2018 founding5 — the five students Placer Robotics began with
2018–1914
2019–2027
2020–2124
2021–2240
2022–23109
2023–24147
2024–25171
2025–26208
2026–27202 (season in progress)
47competition teams in 2026–27
  • VEX IQ18 teams
  • VEX V520 teams
  • Combat9 teams

Regional network

A regional robotics network

These are the schools our students attend, not schools we deliver programs to. Schools that run their own programs with our help — equipment, grants, fee assistance, training, or mentoring — are told apart further down the page.

LincolnLoomisRocklinGranite BayRosevilleFolsomSacramentoPlacer Robotics Center
All 50 schools our students attend
SchoolCommunity
Arden Middle SchoolSacramento
Bella Vista High SchoolFair Oaks
Caleb GreenwoodSacramento
California Montessori ProjectCarmichael
Cambridge Heights ElementaryRoseville
Chilton Middle SchoolGranite Bay
Cooley Middle SchoolRoseville
Cottonwood SchoolHomeschool or independent study
Del Oro High SchoolLoomis
Del Paso Manor ElementarySacramento
Deterding ElementarySacramento
Feather River Charter SchoolHomeschool or independent study
Fiddyment Farm ElementaryRoseville
Franklin ElementaryLoomis
Glen Edwards Middle SchoolLincoln
Golden Hills SchoolRoseville
Granite Bay High SchoolGranite Bay
Granite Oaks Middle SchoolRocklin
Harvest Ridge Cooperative Charter SchoolNewcastle
John Adams AcademyRoseville
Larry MeeksSacramento
Loomis Basin Charter SchoolLoomis
Maria Montessori Charter AcademySacramento
Oak Hills ElementaryGranite Bay
Olympus Junior High SchoolRoseville
Orangevale OpenOrangevale
Our Lady of the AssumptionCarmichael
Pershing ElementarySacramento
Rescue ElementaryRescue
Ridgeview ElementaryRoseville
Rocklin Academy (Turnstone)Rocklin
Rocklin Academy GatewayRocklin
Rocklin ElementaryRocklin
Rocklin High SchoolRocklin
Sacramento Country Day SchoolSacramento
Sierra ElementaryRocklin
Silverado Middle SchoolRoseville
Springview Middle SchoolRocklin
St. Albans Country Day SchoolRoseville
St. Francis of Assisi ElementarySacramento
Sutter Middle SchoolFolsom
Sutter Peak Charter SchoolHomeschool or independent study
Warren T. Eich MiddleRoseville
West Park High SchoolRoseville
Westbrook ElementaryRoseville
Western Sierra Collegiate AcademyRocklin
Whitney High SchoolRocklin
Willma Cavitt Junior HighGranite Bay
Winston Churchill Middle SchoolCarmichael
Yuba City High SchoolYuba City

Student leadership

Students didn't just join the programs. They built the next ones.

Student leaders started and taught the first summer camps in 2019. When campers and their parents wanted somewhere to continue, those same students helped launch the VEX IQ competition program and our local league — and the pattern repeated in combat robotics.

VEX IQ pathway

  1. Students started and taught the first summer camps in 2019
  2. Camp families wanted somewhere to continue
  3. Students launched our VEX IQ competition program and local league
  4. Experienced students now mentor the younger teams

Combat pathway

  1. Students started the combat robotics summer camp
  2. Camp families wanted somewhere to continue
  3. A new in-house middle-school combat program
  4. Camp veterans mentor the new builders

4,422student summer-camp counselor hours, Summers 2023–2026

Students often arrive as campers and come back to teach — as counselors, pit mentors, and coaches for the teams coming up behind them, alongside parent coaches and technical mentors from local industry.

An older student teaching a younger one — camp counselor, pit mentor, or coach

Community power

A community large enough to run a season

Nearly 300 volunteers from more than 140 families contributed over 4,000 hours at our competitions and community events across the last two seasons — running fields, inspection, refereeing, scoring, judging, and pits.

≈2,916community event volunteer hours in 2025–26
100+volunteer families in 2025–26
≈4,270hours across the last two seasons
37families came back to volunteer a second season

Hours are recorded at event check-in where possible; totals that include scheduled or estimated hours say “approximately.” Student camp-counselor hours are a separate measure and are never added to event volunteering.

Competitions close to home

Building the places where students compete

We didn't join a local calendar — we made one. A full season of opportunities now runs without every event requiring a long trip.

  • NorCal VEX IQ Championshipat MOSAC, Sacramento
  • Sacramento Bot Battlescombat robotics, Roseville
  • VEX IQ leagues and qualifiersthrough the season
  • VEX V5 leagues and qualifiersthrough the season
  • Impact Robotics Leagueour own league play

17 competitions hosted in 2025–26

Competitions we hosted each season. A multi-day league counts as one competition.
Competitions hosted, season by season
SeasonCompetitions hosted
2018–190
2019–201
2020–210
2021–222
2022–236
2023–249
2024–2513
2025–2617
A plastic-ant arena packed with a dozen student-built combat robots mid-rumble, with a crowd of students watching through the polycarbonate
A plastic-ant rumble — a dozen machines in the arena at once
The full antweight and beetleweight combat arena at Sacramento Bot Battles, with the overhead match feed on screen and spectators around the cage
The antweight/beetleweight arena at Sacramento Bot Battles

Four combat arenas built in two years

In the last two years, Placer Robotics has built three plastic-ant arenas and a full antweight/beetleweight arena. Students design, test, and compete on them without leaving the region.

The 15-pound arena we're building next →

Programs that last

The impact lasts when a school can run the program itself

Schools get different kinds of support depending on what they need — equipment, fee assistance, grants, coach training, mentoring, or a season of competition. The goal is a program that belongs to its school and community.

Independent school program

Olive Grove Elementary

A one-day workshop started it. We supplied every piece of equipment for their first year while students and teachers built the knowledge to run it — and after a successful season, their teacher won district funding for equipment of Olive Grove's own.

  1. We ran a one-day workshop
  2. We provided all the equipment for year one
  3. A successful first year — three teams, and knowledge that stayed
  4. Their teacher secured district funding for their own equipment
  5. Olive Grove runs the program independently

“None of this would have been possible without Placer Robotics. We felt so supported.”

Sarah Counter, science teacher and robotics coach
The full story on Outreach →

Independent school program

Oakmont VEX Robotics

We launched the program and supported it until it could run on its own. Independent since 2022. Getting started took an RECF grant, loaned equipment, waived fees, and assistance from the City of Roseville Citizen Benefit Fund.

Operated by Placer Robotics

Cavitt Cyber Cowboys

We restarted Cavitt's robotics program after a multi-year pause. We operate the teams as Cavitt's school robotics program, with mentoring from our students and adult volunteers.

Launching 2026–27

Granite Oaks Middle School Robotics

We ran summer sessions to train their students ahead of launch. Three teams launching in August 2026.

School-run program we support

Harvest Ridge VEX Robotics

We lent equipment, worked with their program lead on training, and helped them find grant funding. Their teams compete at our events. 17 school-run teams in 2025–26 — 12 VEX IQ and 5 VEX V5.

Placer Robotics–operated results

Competition results

Independently run school and partner programs keep their own records.

VEX record
24team appearances at VEX Worlds
7State/Region banners
2won at VEX Worlds
22State/Region championship awards
301VEX awards in all
Combat record
15NRL Nationals appearances
3California 15lb titles
1NRL National award
8state championship awards
1815lb podiums and awards

Placer Robotics has demonstrated combat robotics at SXSW alongside BattleBots.

Explore the complete competition record →

Beyond the competition field

Engineering experience that carries forward

CAD
Designing parts and assemblies before anything is cut
Fabrication
Machining, cutting, and building to tolerance
Electronics
Wiring, power, sensors, and motor systems
Controls
Tuning drivetrains and autonomous routines
Programming
Writing and debugging the code that runs the robot
Testing
Testing systems and diagnosing failures before competition.
Documentation
Engineering notebooks that justify every decision
Technical leadership
Running a build team to a deadline

Students carry that foundation into demanding engineering and computer-science programs, universities, and technical careers. Sierra College Mechatronics and local industry strengthen the regional ecosystem with facilities, expertise, and ambitious projects — not a single prescribed destination.

Two students at a laptop in the Placer Robotics lab, reviewing a combat robot baseplate in CAD

The next piece of regional infrastructure

A 15-pound arena with Sierra College

Placer Robotics and Sierra College Mechatronics are working together on a 15-pound combat robotics arena for youth and collegiate competition, college instruction, industry demonstrations, and regional workforce engagement.

Rendering of the planned combat robotics arena: a raised, branded competition platform with polycarbonate walls, lit for an event
Campaign visualization · in development

Help build what the region needs next

Companies can help with materials, machining, laser cutting, welding and fabrication, engineering expertise, financial support, and employee volunteers. The 15-pound arena is the project in front of us.

Partner with usSupport Placer Robotics