There are several robotics competitions for high school students to participate in. Engaging in these competitions represents more than just a test of comprehensive skills—it entails the integration of overall learning improvement, teamwork enhancement, logical thinking, and practical abilities. Moreover, these competitions serve as a platform for students to share and communicate with peers globally. As science and technology continue to advance, the innovation of intelligent robots has urged the importance of robotics competitions for high school students who aspire to major in robotics or mechanical engineering.
VEX Robot Competition
The VEX Robotics World Championship is an event that aims to expand the interest of middle school, high school, and college students in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics by promoting educational robots, and improve and promote the teamwork spirit, leadership, and problem-solving abilities of young people. This robotics competition for high school students is divided into three levels: junior high school, high school, and college. Teams participating in the competition are required to design, build, and program their own robots.
The participating robots can be controlled by automatic programs or remote controls, and can carry out competition activities in accordance with certain rules on specific competition venues. The competition encompasses two distinct types of robot contests: manual and automatic. It’s characterized by intense interactivity, fierce competition, and thrilling encounters, spotlighting the intricate functional design of mechanical structures and transmission systems.
RoboRAVE International Robot Competition
RoboRAVE is an international robotics competition mainly sponsored and supported by Intel Corporation, catering specifically to high school students. In the RoboRAVE competition, students need to design, build, and use computer programming to control a fully autonomous robot to complete the competition tasks. The excellent educational concepts of inquiry-based learning and project-based learning are deeply rooted in the DNA of the RoboRAVE competition project. In the process of preparing for the competition, the students’ practical ability, scientific literacy, teamwork ability, project and time management ability, and language expression ability have been significantly improved.
The competition is divided into different age groups for primary school students, junior high school students, and high school students. Each year there are different themes to the competitions – There have been competition themes such as “Robot Fire Fighting Challenge”, “Climb the Peak Challenge”, and “Curling Ring Challenge”.
MakeX Robot Challenge
Initiated and hosted by the MakeX Robot Challenge Organizing Committee, it is an international robot competition mainly targeting teenagers aged 6-19 around the world. Students are encouraged to use a variety of materials to design and build their projects.
Since MakeX was released in 2017, it has become popular in the field of robot competitions. In the 2017 season, MakeX held more than 10 professional competitions at home and abroad. More than 1,000 teams from around the world participated in the competition, and a total of more than 5,000 teenagers signed up to participate.
MakeX is committed to becoming the most influential high-level benchmarking robot competition, filling the gap between STEAM education and STEAM teaching effect evaluation, allowing more young people to have the opportunity to contact and understand STEAM education, learn and apply the latest and most cutting-edge black technology.
In the 2018 season, the MakeX Robot Challenge consists of three events with different themes, namely “MakeX Starter-Blue Planet”, “MakeX Challenge-Interstellar Exploration”, and “MakeX Premier-Siege and Defense”. Under the guidance of teachers and coaches, students create a robot through design, construction and programming according to competition rules to complete engineering challenges in the form of a competition.
FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC)
It is an industrial-level robotics competition hosted by FIRST, an American non-profit organization, for all middle school students. FRC successfully combines the excitement of sports with the precision of science and technology. This event has been recognized by more than 100 universities around the world.
FRC competition is an open international platform. In early January every year, FIRST announces a new theme; January and February are the time for teams to build robots. In March, regional trials began. At the end of April, the winning team will participate in the World Championships in St. Louis , USA .
When it comes to participating in regional trials, FRC has no regional or nationality restrictions for teams. FRC teams from all over the world can participate in regional trials in any region; after all teams are checked in on the day of the competition, the scoring system will automatically generate the league lineup for the qualifying rounds. Based on the scores automatically calculated by the system, the ranking list and the league matchup list for the knockout rounds are automatically generated.
Botball Educational Robotics
One of the other robotics competitions for high school students is the Botball Educational Robotics Program’s International Robot Engineering Challenge traces its roots back to the youth team robotics competition at MIT University in the United States. With an 18-year history, it holds significant global influence, guiding students to develop their scientific literacy and teamwork skills through hands-on practice. Moreover, the Global Conference on Educational Robotics (GCER) garners attention from numerous students and educators. Organized by the American KIPR Robot Education Association and the Botball International Robot Challenge organizing committee, GCER stands as the largest international conference in youth robotics education.
Held concurrently and at the same venue as the Botball international competition annually, its primary goal is to leverage the Botball competition platform to foster academic exchange and advancement in STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), while nurturing students’ international perspectives.
Botball will provide students with robot kit components when registering, requiring students to use limited resources within a limited time to solve an infinitely close to actual engineering problem. All contestants participate in the competition as a team, and contestants need to personally build an autonomous robot without a remote control to complete the challenge. In addition, they also need to complete a series of engineering reports.
Robotics competitions for high school students offer a unique platform for young minds to explore, innovate, and excel in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Through hands-on experience, students not only enhance their technical proficiency but also cultivate creativity, critical thinking, and leadership qualities. As we witness the continuous evolution of robotics and technology, these competitions serve as fertile ground for nurturing the next generation of engineers, programmers, and innovators.
Next, you may be interested in one of our robotics students here.
