MONTGOMERY, Ala. – January 23, 2026 – Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama (HMMA) hosted its fifth annual Hyundai Initiative for Robotics Excellence (HIRE) School Robotics Tournament on January 22 and 23, 2026. The VEX IQ Robotics competition was held at the HMMA Training Center and was comprised of teams from Montgomery Public Schools, Autauga County Schools, and Selma City Schools.
In 2019, HMMA teamed up with Auburn University’s Southeastern Center of Robotics Education (SCORE) to start the HIRE program. The goal of HIRE is to establish robotics teams at local schools to seed the next generation of a technically proficient workforce. The HIRE program will establish a much-needed emphasis on STEM education and academic excellence within the public school system.
“We Alabamians love our sports and competitions. Watching our region’s students collaborating and problem-solving using science, technology, engineering and math is as exciting to us at HMMA as if we were watching the Iron Bowl. We invest in learning because we feel that preparing our students for their future isn’t just on the shoulders of teachers and school systems. We need to do our part as well, hoping that when they’re ready to start their career, they’ll pick one of the many exciting ones that HMMA has to offer,” said Scott Posey, Manager of Public Relations at HMMA.
Around 350 students from 44 teams competed in the competition, with Autauga and Selma competing on Jan 22 and Montgomery competing on Jan 23. The competition pits local schools’ robotics teams and their student-created robots against one another in skills trials, engineering notebook judging, qualifying matches, and championship matches. Engineering team members from HMMA served as judges.
“We would like to thank Hyundai for this awesome partnership. We want our students to be well-prepared for the workforce, and robotics competitions like this keep our students engaged and on the cutting-edge of what’s out there. As educators, we have to be ahead of the game, we have to always try and implement things that will keep our students excited about learning, and this is a prime example of that,” said Dr. Zickeyous Byrd, Superintendent of Montgomery Public Schools.
HIRE is the result of multiple grants made by HMMA over the past several years, with the goal of establishing robotics teams at local schools to seed the next generation of a technically proficient workforce. HMMA’s total investment in local robotics education is now over $500,000.
During the competition, students received a robotics demonstration of a Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics SPOT robot.
| Day | Award | School |
| 1/22/26 | Excellence Award | Marbury Middle School |
| Teamwork Champion Award | Billingsley High School | |
| Teamwork Champion Award | Marbury Middle School | |
| Design Award | Prattville Jr. High School | |
| Robots Skills Champion | Marbury Middle School | |
| Judges Award | Meadowview Elementary | |
| Innovate Award | Prattville Jr. High School | |
| 1/23/26 | Excellence Award | McKee Middle School |
| Teamwork Champion Award | McKee Middle School (McKee Terminators) | |
| Teamwork Champion Award | McKee Middle School (McKee Tigers) | |
| Design Award | Carr Middle School | |
| Judges Award | Floyd Middle School | |
| Innovate Award | McKee Middle School |
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Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, headquartered in Montgomery, Ala., is an independent manufacturing operation of Hyundai Motor Company, based in Seoul, Korea. HMMA currently produces the Hyundai Santa Fe, Tucson, and Santa Cruz, and the Genesis GV70. Hyundai cars and sport utility vehicles are distributed throughout the United States by Hyundai Motor America and are sold and serviced by more than 830 Hyundai dealerships across North America.
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