Here's some great news for Nebraska VEX IQ teams: VEX has launched Virtual Skills for the 2026-27 season — a free, virtual version of this year's game, Level Up, inside VEXcode VR. Your team can practice on the real game without a field, without a finished robot, and without leaving the computer lab.

It's available to any team registered at events.vex.com (and to VEXcode VR Premium license holders). If your team is registered for the season, you already have access.

🧠 Two ways to practice

1. Autonomous coding in the Level Up Playground. Code a virtual robot on this year's field in VEXcode VR — perfect for your programmers to rack up reps on the actual game before (or while) the physical robot comes together. Start here:

2. Virtual Driving Skills. Connect a VEX IQ (2nd generation) controller to a computer and drive practice matches right in the browser — with your choice of four drive configurations (Tank, Left Arcade, Right Arcade, Split Arcade) and adjustable motor speeds and button mappings. Real controller feel, virtual field:

🤖 Why we're excited about this

  • Rookie teams can start competing skills-style on day one — even before the robot build is finished.
  • Drivers get real practice in the off-hours. A controller and a laptop is a practice session.
  • Programmers get the whole field to themselves. Autonomous is where teams stand out at events — and now there's no waiting for field time to work on it.

When your team is ready for the real thing, the skills field runs all day at every local event we host — our Help Center's skills challenges guide covers how that works and why those scores matter.

🚀 Getting started

  1. Make sure your team is registered for the season at events.vex.com — new to that? See our registration guide.
  2. Head to vr.vex.com and open the Level Up Playground.
  3. Grab the two guides above and get your first runs in.

Questions, or want help getting your team going? We're always at [email protected].