UCF robotics club emerges as national competitor in collegiate robotics

May 8, 2026

The University of Central Florida’s Robotics Club of Central Florida (RCCF) saw national success during the 2025-2026 VEX University Robotics Competition season, with two student teams earning top rankings against universities across the country.

RCCF teams “Knightmare” and “Daydream” combined for 83 head-to-head match wins against more than 40 universities during the academic year, according to UCF. The teams also earned the No. 1 U.S. ranking for individual robotic skills at the VEX University Robotics Competition (VURC) 2025-2026.

The VEX University Robotics Competition is a collegiate engineering competition that challenges students to design, build, program and operate robots in game-based competitions focused on engineering, coding and teamwork. The competition is part of the broader VEX Robotics program, which hosts events for students ranging from elementary school through college and culminates in the annual VEX Robotics World Championship.

Schools competing in VURC events throughout the season included Georgia Tech, Purdue University and Texas A&M University. The VEX Robotics World Championship brings together qualifying teams from around the world to compete in tournament play and robotics skills challenges.

RCCF is structured to support students with varying levels of experience. The Daydream team is designed for newer members entering competitive robotics, while Knightmare is geared toward more advanced competitors.

Kushal Patel, aerospace engineering major and member of the Knightmare team, said the club’s long-standing involvement in competitive robotics played a major role in this season’s performance.

“Combined, the team has over 50 years of VEX robotics experience, with our most senior member competing since third grade,” Patel said. “We don’t just participate in this project for bullet points on our resumes — our team competes for the love of competition.”

In addition to collegiate competition, RCCF members participate in outreach initiatives and volunteer at robotics events nationwide. The organization recently hosted a VEX IQ Challenge event for middle and high school students on UCF’s campus.

The program provides students with hands-on experience in areas such as robotics systems, computer vision and machine learning, while helping students develop engineering and teamwork skills outside the classroom.