Gulf Shores, Ala. — (OBA) —  Gulf Shores High School is set to make robotics history next month. The school's Hyperwave robotics program will host the world premiere of the VEX AIR Drone Competition. No team anywhere on the planet has competed in VEX AIR before this event. The game's creators and VEX Robotics leadership will be in the room to watch it happen for the first time.

The competition is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 20, 2026, at Gulf Shores High School, tentatively running from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Teams will compete in Pick & Drop, the first VEX AIR game ever released. During timed flights, drones pick up colored objects and drop them into red and blue goals.

Every team flies the same VEX AIR competition drone. Mid-match, pilots can land in a pit-stop zone to swap out an attachment module, battery, or landing feet, changing how the drone performs. That flexibility means teams must think fast and adapt their strategy on the fly.

In the qualifying rounds, teams are paired into two-team alliances and ranked by their average score across all matches. The top-ranked teams then select alliance partners for a one-match final round. The team with the highest single score in that final wins the first VEX AIR tournament title.

Scores will be displayed live on a big-screen leaderboard throughout the day for teams and guests to follow. Gulf Shores City Schools board members and central office administrators are also expected to attend. Schools and clubs can register at events.vex.com/robot-competitions/vex-air-drone-competition.

Coach James Salvant, who also serves as an event host at Gulf Shores High School, spoke about what the moment means to his students. "Our students get to be the first in the world to compete in VEX AIR, and that is something they will remember for a long time," Salvant said. "Having the people who designed this game in the room, watching students program their drones, fly them, and re-tool them mid-match to adapt their strategy, is a rare chance for our kids to show what they can do and talk with the engineers who made it possible."

"VEX AIR adds a third dimension to competitive robotics, and Gulf Shores is proud to be where it takes off," said Jamie McClung, coach and event host at Gulf Shores High School. "Our Hyperwave students have helped build this event from the ground up, down to the live scoring system that will run on competition day. We invite every team that wants to be part of this first chapter to register and come fly with us".

Event Details:

• What: World Premiere VEX AIR Drone Competition (Pick & Drop) — the first VEX AIR competition in the world
• When: Friday, Nov. 20, 2026, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. (tentative)
• Where: Gulf Shores High School, Gulf Shores, Ala.
• Who: High school VEX AIR teams; VEX Robotics leadership and developers, Gulf Shores City Schools robotics coaches, school board members and central office administrators
• Registration: events.vex.com/robot-competitions/vex-air-drone-competition

VEX AIR is the new drone platform from VEX Robotics, the maker of the VEX IQ and VEX V5 classroom and competition robotics systems. Students program, configure, and fly a standard competition drone to complete game challenges. They choose and swap attachment modules to match their strategy, learning engineering, coding, and teamwork along the way.

Gulf Shores High School is part of Gulf Shores City Schools. Hyperwave is the school's robotics program, where students design, build, and program robots — and now program and fly drones for competition.