By Maxwell Marko

February 04, 2026

THIEF RIVER FALLS – Robert Fay started a robotics camp in Thief River Falls nine years ago. Now the manager of applications engineering at DigiKey is hosting a robotics tournament for middle and high school students at the company’s warehouse.

A VEX V5 Robotics champion will be crowned at DigiKey on Feb. 6, where 200 students and 38 teams will compete.

“I just think it is going to be one of the most unique experiences for a lot of these kids. To be able to kind of do robotics in the middle of that environment,” Fay said.

It is a tournament that would not have been possible without the work of Fay and others at DigiKey. He started as a member of a VEX robotics team at Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River and has delivered his passion to others in the area.

“I was a member of the college robotics team and I really enjoyed it. After I graduated, I got a job working at DigiKey and my kids were going to school here in Thief River, and there was a need. They were looking for options for after-school camps that were technical engineering-focused,” Fay said.

He asked the school about starting a “VEX IQ” camp to introduce students to the plastic, lower-cost starter kits. Fay then bought four kits on eBay and started his first camp.

“I actually ended up putting on five camps because there were so many kids who wanted to do it. I just did the camp over and over again. That’s really expanded now,” he said.

In a way, Fay graduated from elementary school to middle school to high school all over again by taking his camp from one grade to the next. He offers VEX robotics at St. Bernard’s Catholic School from second to eighth grade.

At Thief River Falls High School, there is the option of FIRST robotics, which provides a more complex and industrial-level project.

DigiKey has offered its full support to these robotics tournaments by sponsoring events. By having students use the warehouse floor for this upcoming tournament, it provides a next-level and immersive experience.

“(DigiKey) has really allowed me flexibility to really explore this. Local events, state tournaments and they do national robotics work,” Fay said.

He came to DigiKey with the idea of hosting a tournament two years ago with the thought of bringing students to where robotics is happening instead of bringing short videos or pieces of robots to sponsored events.

While it is not a relatively large tournament, being able to create an unforgettable experience for just one kid is what Fay looks forward to. It is how he got initially interested in robotics.

At Northland’s first regional tournament, Purdue University had brought its robotics team. Fay’s side went head-to-head with the Boilermakers and won the event.

“It was eye-opening that I could go and participate in a thing at the same level as a student at Purdue. That really resonated with me. I could take something from my little school and it’s on the same level as any other school out there,” Fay said. “To be able to give that to my kids and students now is a cool experience.”

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By Maxwell Marko

Digital Content Producer and Sports Reporter at the Grand Forks Herald since December of 2020. Maxwell can be contacted at mmarko@gfherald.com.