10 Robotics Competitions for High School Students
If you’re a high school student passionate about robotics, then we hope you’re looking to participate in robotics competitions. Competitions are a great way for you to put your skills to the test and develop new ones. Not only do many competitions teach you teamwork and collaboration, but they also hone your leadership and project management skills. Whether it’s some creative problem-solving or a fun challenge, we have compiled a list of 10 robotics competitions for high school students that have you covered.
What are robotics competitions?
Robotics Competitions are events where teams of students design, build, and program robots to compete against each other in a variety of challenges. There are many robotics competitions available for your skill set – regardless of whether you’re a beginner, or quite advanced. So if you’re interested in programming, problem-solving, or engineering – you’re probably suited for robotics competitions! If you’re in high school, you should consider participating in these competitions, because robotics competitions can build your programming skills through hands-on experience, and demonstrate a willingness to challenge yourself – especially to college admissions officers.
How to prep for robotics competitions
When prepping for Robotics competitions, it’s important to understand where you stand with respect to your competitors. So three things that you might want to keep in mind when prepping for a robotics competition include:
Practicing designing and building robots. This one is obvious, but the more you practice algorithms for autonomous navigation and control – the better your odds are at doing well in a competition. Note – if you’re targeting a specific event or competition, it goes without saying that you look into whether it has any areas that you may have a gap in.
Study past competition challenges to understand common themes and strategies. This may also help you identify and address aforementioned knowledge gaps, as well as start brainstorming and ideation a little earlier.
Spend a lot of time with your team. Since so many robotics competitions are team-based events, your team must have strong communication skills and the ability to work together in a time crunch.
How did we pick the competitions and rank them?
The competitions in this list are ranked based on prestige and size. To determine this, we used the following criteria.
We looked at how prestigious tournaments were – by looking at the level of challenge they posed to participants, the complexity of their problems, and their credibility.
We also looked at the size of the tournament– how many teams took part, and how open and accessible registration was for participants – whether the competition was open to different skill levels.
Competitions with levels tagged as ‘Beginner-friendly to intermediate’ indicate that it is necessary to have very basic programming language proficiency, while ‘Intermediate’ or ‘Intermediate to Advanced’ indicates some degree of specialty needed. If a competition is listed as ‘Advanced’, it could be a highly specialized or highly competitive tournament.
With that, here’s a list of 10 robotics competitions for high school students!
Location: Competitions in most major states. You can find them here
Eligibility: High School Students, aged between 14 and 18. Teams must have at least 10 students, with 2 adult mentors. Teams are usually affiliated with schools or local educational institutions or organizations, so it’s best to check whether such an organization already exists in your community. If not – you can independently organize as well!
Prize: A broad swathe of scholarships and cash prizes for the top scorers
Registration + Submission Deadline: Team registrations are usually $5000, FIRST offers guidance on fundraising for this amount as well as aid to teams that need it.
Competition dates: Early January through April, tentatively based on the 2023 schedule. 2024 is yet to be announced.
While this competition is great for any team that’s passionate about robotics, if you are a sports enthusiast, this might be a particularly great competition for you. It also has a strong element of networking (almost, business-like, and a close parallel to fundraising for your project).
FIRST Robotics is a prestigious, competitive, team-based competition. With strict rules and limited time and resources, teams have to build an industrial-sized robot that is capable of competing in a complex field game at competitions. When it comes to preparing for this competition, doing research on previous years’ competitions to better understand what kind of strategy your team should follow will be all the more crucial. Furthermore, this competition also challenges you to fundraise for your team, so you’ll have to flex your non-technical skills as well. In terms of basic skills students would need to compete, it might be good to familiarize yourself with prototyping, CAD (computer-aided design), and programming languages like Java, C++, or LabVIEW.
2. RoboGames
Location: TBA for 2024
Eligibility: Open registration – students and adults alike can apply.
Prize: Cash prizes and trophies are available
Registration+Submission Deadline: TBA for 2024, time frame to register based on previous years– between July 2023 and February 2024.
Competition Dates: TBA for 2024, Usually in March.
RoboGames has around 15 events to participate in – ranging from combat robots to soccer robots, to art robots. Note that this is one of the most competitive competitions on this list, with over 1000 teams participating every year. For this competition, it’s highly advisable to look at the specifics of the event you want to participate in in order to practice the necessary skills. But in general, sensor integration and data processing are incredibly important, alongside practicing programming and implementing autonomous behaviors.
Location: TBA for 2024, but hosted across multiple college campuses across different states in the past that you can find here. Last year was in Denver, Colorado.
Eligibility: Teams must be made up of students from grades 7 through 12. Each team must have a minimum of 5 members and a maximum of 12.
Prize: Top teams receive cash prizes, trophies, and other awards.
Registration+Submission Deadline: TBA for 2024, but based on previous years – January 31st, 2024 for the 2024 competition.
Competition Dates: TBA for 2024, likely in March (based on previous years.)
BEST is a robotics competition for middle and high school students. The competition is structured in a team vs team format, with 4 teams participating in a 3-minute match. Teams have to design, build, and program robots to be able to perform a variety of tasks – the theme and challenge changes from year to year, so if you want to participate in this it would be wise to keep an eye out for the announcement as well as look at previous years’ themes. The competition is divided into two phases – the Hub Competition (at the local level) and the Championship Competition (national). If you plan to try this, it would be useful to focus on practicing and improving your ability to use CAD, and programming languages like Java, Python, or C++.
Location: TBA for 2024
Eligibility: Be a middle school or high school student, teams have a minimum of 3 members.
Prize: Cash prizes and Trophies
Registration+Submission Deadline: TBA for 2024, likely February 1st, 2024 for the competition.
Competition Dates: TBA for 2024, likely to be in April.
The World Robotics Olympiad has 4 competition categories – RoboMission, RoboSports, Future Innovators, and Future Engineers. RoboMission entails building and programming a robot that is capable of solving tasks on a field. RoboSports has teams competing against each other in a game. Future Innovators has participants focus on a project to design and build a robot, while Future Engineers focuses on more advanced robotics in line with the current research trends. More details about each can be found here. Apart from CAD and other programming languages, it would be good to familiarize yourself with the basics of Machine Learning and the Internet of Things (IoT).
Location: Multiple locations.
Eligibility: High School Students, their schools need to be signed up with Robotics Education and Competition Foundation. The foundation provides support to new teams – you can find a guide to start a new team and compete at a high level here. Team capacities are a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 10 members.
Prize: Awards but no cash prize
Registration + Submission Deadline: Rolling and not declared – you can create a team at any point. The best time to register is likely to be in the May – June period, in order to participate in various scrimmages and rounds.
Competition dates: Likely late April to early May, tentatively based on the 2023 schedule.
The VEX Robotics competition is a highly prestigious, annual international event where teams of students design a robot that competes with other robots in a series of challenges and activities. Each round of the competition is two minutes long, with a 15-second autonomous period and a 1:45 minute controlled driving period. You should ensure to practice your skills in not just RobotC or VEXCode, but also design and knowledge of sensors and feedback mechanisms.
Here are 8 things you need to know about the Vex Robotics Competition!
Location: TBA for 2024. Last year it was held in Orlando, Florida.
Eligibility: Middle and high school students. Minimum of 3 members per team, there is a registration fee but you can apply for a team scholarship.
Prize: Awards offered
Registration+Submission Deadline: TBA for 2024, likely to be March 1st, 2024.
Competition Dates: TBA, likely to be in April.
Botball organizes a robotics tournament every year where teams compete against each other. There are two levels to the competition – the regional qualifier, and the national finals. The robots are completely autonomous. Botball provides the necessary resources to learn and develop strategies using AI and embedded systems. The languages frequently used in this competition are C, C++, and Java.
Location: Germany (for 2024, TBA for 2025)
Eligibility: Age group 1: 10 - 13; Age group 2: 14 - 20. A team consists of two to four members. For detailed eligibility criteria, please see here.
Prize: Varying amounts of prize money.
Registration + Submission deadline: The deadline to register for 2024 was June 18th, 2023. The deadline for 2025 is to be announced. You can register here.
Competition dates: 17th November 2024. A detailed schedule is available here.
RoboRAVE is an international competition in which self-designed robots made by students compete against each other. This event focuses on having fun while learning, sharing, and teamwork. It is an international competition with participation open not just for groups from the region but from the entire world. Founded in Albuquerque (New Mexico, USA), RoboRAVE is hosted in many countries on five different continents. This event is also team-based. If you want to participate in this, practice your skills in languages like Python, Arduino, and Scratch. Make sure you have ample time to practice and improve your robot’s performance.
We’ve covered RoboRave and tips that can help you win in detail in this blog!
8. National Robotics Challenge
Location: Marion, Ohio
Eligibility: Students in grades 6 through 12, each team has a minimum of 3 members and a max of 6. Note that there is a registration fee of $80 per team and $15 per robot. You can find more information here.
Prize: Awards and Trophies
Registration+Submission Deadline: March 1st, 2024.
Competition Dates: April 13th through 15th, 2024.
The National Robotics Challenge is one of the longest established robotics competitions in the United States. It has qualifier tournaments – i.e., tournaments at the local level, from which the top teams go on to participate in the finals. There are 12 competition categories, with the Autonomous Vehicle Challenge posing the most programming complexity and other categories including Pick and Place Programming, Robot Problem Solving, and more. For this competition, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with CAD and other programming languages at the very least. Be sure to check each category's specific requirements here!
Location: TBA for 2024. Last year was in Longmont, Colorado.
Eligibility: Middle and high school students. Teams are a minimum of 2 members and a max of 6. More registration information can be found here.
Prize: Awards and Cash Prizes are offered.
Registration+Submission Deadline: TBA, likely January 31st, 2024.
Competition Dates: TBA for 2024, likely in March. Note – this competition is slightly specialized!
MATE ROV is an underwater or Remotely operated vehicle (ROV) robotics competition. There are 5 competition classes that are organized by skill level. You can find different resources and the history of themes in the competition here. It generally focuses on climate change and how tech can help. If you want to participate in this competition, it would be good to learn and equip yourself with skills related to sensors and feedback mechanisms, CAD, and other programming languages.
10. Aerospace Robotics Competition
Location: TBA for 2024
Eligibility: High School Students, teams with a minimum of 5 members – max of 10.
Prize: Trophies and Awards, Scholarships
Registration+Submission Deadline: TBA for 2024, but based on previous years – February 1st, 2024 for the Spring competition. The submission deadline for the technical presentation is likely to be earlier – around January 15th based on previous years.
Competition Dates: TBA for 2024, likely to be in April.
Note – this competition is slightly specialized. Best for those interested in aerospace engineering!
The Aerospace Robotics Competition is a 2-day competitive event designed to teach high school students about the principles of aerospace engineering through designing, building, programming, and flying UAVs. Teams present their technical plans on the first day to a panel of judges. On the second day, teams will have to compete in a series of challenges including autonomous flight and semi-autonomous flight. For this competition, it would be good to familiarize yourself with UAV-specific software platforms and libraries, as well as MATLAB, C++, and Python.
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