Robotics competitions are events where participants are expected to design and produce robots to compete. Even though competitions might happen to have limitations regarding the age and education level, generally, everyone can participate in such competitions. Students can ideally participate in such robotics competitions from all over the world. They can easily sign up for these international competitions by simply filling out an online form, where they choose a league and an age division, join a team, create a robotics resume, and send it to local coaches.
Robotics education supports the STEM education system, through which students learn to analyze different concepts and understand the logic behind them instead of memorizing. Students get to develop and use analytical skills regardless of their age and education level. Students who learn robotics develop better problem-solving skills and learn a variety of engineering concepts and universal skills. Students acquire the ability to quickly find solutions to problems. Students get to reveal their curiosity, research skills, and creativity.
Similar to robotics education, robotics competitions improve students’ analytical skills and enable them to quickly evaluate and find solutions to the problems they encounter. Students who participate in such robotics competitions, in addition to developing better problem-solving skills, put abstract concepts into practice. The most important goal of all robotics competitions is to carry out projects with students who are interested in this particular field and develop their game skills based on their engineering knowledge. Robotics competitions have a gradual learning process; students should pay attention and be focused to be successful and get the most out of these competitions.
There are many benefits offered by robotics competitions. Robotics competitions help students of all ages see what they learn in practice. The awards given in most robotics competitions are designed to increase the students' curiosity and enthusiasm for technology and robotics. In robotics competitions, the participants have the opportunity to learn software-based skills such as programming and coding. Thus, robotics competitions, along with robotics education, prepares students for the future, where cyber-physical systems such as space-missions, autonomous cars, and smart factories will be of great importance. Robotics competitions offer personal benefits along with educational benefits. Determination, resilience, and goal-orientation are among those benefits that robotics competitions have. Additionally, teamwork is essential for robotics coding and competitions. Unlike the pure software development process, the robotic development process requires students to be prone to teamwork. Students with different ideas need to work in harmony and share their knowledge to succeed. Thus, these competitions require and improve the skills of leadership and collaboration.
FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is among those robotic competitions that students can participate in. This particular robotics competition is very famous and has participants from a vast number of countries. It aims to combine the excitement of sports with various challenges science and technology bring. Another well-known competition is Vex Tech Challenge held by Vex Robotics. VEX Robotics conveys the importance of teamwork by making students dependent on each other to succeed. The teams that compete try to be the first to finish designing and building robots.
Even though it is possible to say that robotics competitions are accessible to everyone, it is not always the case. If a competition, for instance, takes place at a physical location and requires physical presence, it might not be always that easy to take part in that competition. Furthermore, physical robotics competitions have their disadvantages. One of those disadvantages is transportation. These competitions are for everyone who trusts his- or herself. However, lots of people have to travel hours if not days to be physically present at these competitions and participate. As participants travel, they have to find a place to accommodate as well. These issues not only affect the productivity of competitors but also put a financial burden on them. Moreover, the tools that competitors use add to this financial burden. Therefore, competitors have to either find sponsorships, which is a very exhausting process, or pay for expenses themselves, which is not very feasible. Such drawbacks may discourage some of the world's most skillful people from joining these competitions. Furthermore, there may happen to be other issues with the location that the competition is held in terms of malfunctioning of tools.
However, there is another option that can eliminate all these issues. Virtual robotics competitions had already been on the rise. However, this recent pandemic of Covid-19 has made such competitions more popular. And, Riders is one of the platforms for these virtual competitions, where no one has to travel for hours from one place to another, struggle to find a place to stay, or pay for tools. All competitors need is a computer and a fast internet connection. Virtual competitions rely more on robotic coding skills, eliminating other factors, and help students compete under the same conditions, promoting fairness among the competitors.
As technology advances, the interest in softwares and coding also increases. Therefore, learning coding and programming has become a necessity for students, making the teaching of it a necessity for education institutions. Consequently, coding and programming have started to be taught at early ages. The robotics sector, which grows increasingly important over the years with digitalization and technology, keeps attracting attention with competitions. Robotics competitions are a great way to teach coding and gain universal skills to students.