The Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation exists to bring the excitement of competitive robotics to students all over the globe. To advance its mission, the organization presents annual VEX Competitions, which engage elementary school through college students in hands-on robotics and STEM experiences across the United States and around the world. Today, these competitions reach over 26,000 teams in 66 countries. The REC Foundation is proud to provide affordable, sustainable and accessible robotics education programs to the next generation of innovators.
Each year, the robotics competition season culminates in April at the VEX Robotics World Championship, where the best teams from across the United States and around the world gather to challenge their top-ranked peers to become world champions.
Omar Zuaiter, a past VEX Robotics Competition participant and current student at Auburn University, shared his experience with the program:
“Throughout middle and high school, I competed in the VEX Robotics Competition as part of a club and through my PLTW classes. Both VEX Robotics and PLTW helped me grasp difficult concepts during high school and college, such as rotational motion, Computer-Aided Design, circuitry, design processes, and many others. Both have allowed me to have amazing, unforgettable experiences and friends. I’m glad to have been exposed to it and adore giving back to what has helped me come so far.”
Getting involved in VEX Competitions is simple, and participation builds an interest in STEM and advances life skills – such as teamwork, communication, and collaboration – that serve students well into their future careers.
Teachers can get started by identifying the program that is the right fit for their school and students and then reviewing the 10 additional resources outlined below.
Which Program is Right for Your Students and School?
The VEX IQ Challenge Squared Away and VEX Robotics Competition Tower Takeover are this season’s series of game challenges supported by the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation.
VEX IQ Challenge: Elementary School and Middle School
VEX IQ Challenge Squared Away brings elementary and middle school students together to compete in teamwork challenges with custom-built robots using VEX IQ. VEX IQ Challenge Squared Away is played on a 4’x8’ rectangular field configured as seen above. Two robots compete in the Teamwork Challenge as an alliance in 60-second-long teamwork matches, working collaboratively to score points.
VEX Robotics Competition: Middle School, High School, and College
The VEX Robotics Competition Tower Takeover brings middle school, high school, and college students together with guidance from their teachers and mentors to compete against each other with robots they designed, built, and programmed using VEX EDR. Two alliances – one “red” and one “blue” – are formed and consist of two teams each. Students compete in 15-second autonomous matches followed by one minute and 45 seconds of driver-controlled play. The object of the game is to attain a higher score than the opposing Alliance by placing Cubes in Towers, or scoring Cubes in Goals.
10 Additional Resources for VEX Competitions Teams and Coaches
To learn more, visit roboticseducation.org. To register a team for competition, visit robotevents.com.