WRO® Open Championship
Americas – USA 2026

Registration is only possible through your country's WRO® National Organizer. Teams must first qualify through a sanctioned WRO® event in their country, after which their National Organizer manages registration. Direct individual registration is not available.

Scores for all WRO® categories are published on the official WRO® scoring platform. The USEL Rookie teams have their own leaderboards: Rookie RoboMission Elementary and Rookie RoboMission Junior. All links are also in the Leaderboards section above. Leaderboard results are provisional until final awards are announced at the Closing Ceremony.

Friendship Night takes place on Sunday, September 27, after the Closing Ceremony. Buses load 2:00–3:00 PM, depart the Ontario Convention Center at 3:00 PM sharp and arrive at the park at approximately 4:00 PM, with the evening running until 11:00 PM. Park admission and round-trip transportation are included in the registration fee — Friendship Night is part of the registration package rather than a separate purchase. There is no evening program on Saturday.

No. Friendship Night on Sunday, September 27 is part of the registration package and is not sold or priced separately. Admissions were reserved and paid for on behalf of registered teams and cannot be returned or credited. Teams that choose not to attend are welcome to skip the evening, but the registration fee remains unchanged and no portion is refundable or transferable to another cost.

Friday: check-in runs 11:00 AM–4:00 PM, lunch 12:00–1:00 PM, practice and set-up from 1:00 PM, the single Official Practice Run in the mid-afternoon (times differ by category), Opening Ceremony 4:00–5:00 PM, dinner 5:00–6:00 PM, the MathWorks session 5:30–6:30 PM in Room 100 on the 1st floor, and the Coaches Meeting for RoboMission and Future Innovators 6:00–7:30 PM in Room 200 on the 2nd floor. For Future Engineers, RoboSports and Sumobots the day ends at 6:00 PM. There is no competition on Friday.

Saturday: venue opens 7:00 AM with the RoboMission judges meeting, doors open 8:00–8:40 AM for RoboMission and Future Engineers and 8:20–9:00 AM for Future Innovators, the Surprise Rule is revealed at 8:40 AM, lunch 11:00 AM–12:00 PM, scored rounds run through 3:00 PM, open floor and wrap-up 3:00–4:00 PM, dinner 4:00–5:00 PM, and there is no evening program.

Sunday: doors open at 8:00 AM, RoboMission challenges are revealed 8:40–9:00 AM with translation time to 9:10 AM, finals and judging run through the morning, lunch 12:00–1:00 PM, Closing Ceremony 1:00–2:00 PM, bus loading 2:00–3:00 PM, and buses leave for Disneyland at 3:00 PM.

Full category-by-category timings are in the Schedule section above.

Yes. The Surprise Rule is revealed on Saturday, September 26 at 8:40–9:10 AM for both RoboMission and Future Engineers, with time allowed for translation. It is in effect for that day's scored rounds. Please note this corrects earlier information on this page, which stated the surprise rule would not apply on Saturday.

The Coaches Meeting is on Friday, September 25 from 6:00 to 7:30 PM in Room 200 on the 2nd floor, and covers RoboMission and Future Innovators.

Friday, 5:30–6:30 PM: MathWorks — MATLAB & Simulink: Engineering Software for WRO Teams, Room 100 on the 1st floor.

Saturday, 1:00–2:00 PM: WRO® Association — Workshop on WRO RoboStarter + WRO Learn, Room 100 on the 1st floor.

Saturday, 3:00–4:00 PM: WRO® Association — Coffee and cake with National Organizers, Room 100 on the 1st floor.

No workshop sessions are scheduled for Sunday.

No refunds are possible after registration has been completed. This includes any portion of the fee associated with Friendship Night, which was committed on your team's behalf and cannot be recovered. Please confirm your team's participation with your National Organizer before finalizing registration.

The prices listed are base fees in USD. Your National Organizer may charge a higher amount to account for local taxes, administrative costs, and currency conversion fees. Contact your National Organizer directly for your country's exact pricing.

Visa requirements vary by country. We strongly recommend checking entry requirements well in advance. Visa invitation letters are provided to National Organizers only — if your teams require a letter to support their visa applications, the National Organizer for your country must contact us directly and we will provide one promptly.

We strongly recommend flying into Ontario International Airport (ONT), only 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the convention center. A complimentary shuttle to all partner hotels is included. If you fly into LAX (~60 miles away), you will need to arrange your own transportation. Because Friendship Night runs on Sunday evening until 11:00 PM, please plan return flights for Monday, September 28 or later.

Lunch is included all three days: 12:00–1:00 PM on Friday and Sunday, and 11:00 AM–12:00 PM on Saturday. Dinner is included on Friday 5:00–6:00 PM and Saturday 4:00–5:00 PM. There is no convention center dinner on Sunday because teams depart for Friendship Night at Disneyland at 3:00 PM. Breakfast is not included — see our dining section for nearby options.

Project documentation for both Future Innovators and Future Engineers is due Friday, September 11, 2026. Submissions received after September 11 will not be accepted, so we recommend submitting well ahead of the deadline.

Future Engineers: teams submit one link to their GitHub repository through the WRO event portal. No other submission format is accepted. Under the WRO 2026 Future Engineers rules, the repository must be public at the time the link is submitted and must remain public for at least 12 months after the event. It should contain your engineering documentation, photos of the vehicle from every side plus a team photo, links to your autonomous driving videos, the code for every component you programmed, and a README of at least 5,000 characters written in English. Teams also bring a hard copy of their documentation to the event.

Future Innovators: teams submit a project report and a project video. The report is a PDF of no more than 20 single-sided pages and no more than 15 MB, following the structure set out in the official rules. Reports longer than 20 pages are not judged and receive zero points. The video is a maximum of 90 seconds and 100 MB. If your team used any AI tools, the report must state which systems were used, for what purpose, and to what extent. Teams also bring at least two printed copies of the report to the event, one to hand to the judges and one for visitors to read. The deadline applies to all three age groups (Elementary, Junior, and Senior).

Full requirements are set out in each category’s rules and rubric, linked in the Categories section above.

All official WRO® 2026 rules, game rules, and Q&A are published on the WRO® Association website at wro-association.org. Direct links to each category's rules are in the Categories section above.