Searching for a fun, engaging activity to fill your free time, teach you valuable lessons about STEM, and help you connect with like-minded students in your community? Look no further than competitive student robotics, a wide field that includes competitions, tournaments, and endless opportunities for all grade levels.

Too often, we look at robotics as something to do in the future, maybe in college or beyond. As a student, it is easy to think that robotics is too complicated for you to take on now, or that there are no good opportunities to build your robotics skills while still in elementary or middle school. While this may have been true a decade or two ago, luckily for you, it is no longer the case!

Every year, thousands of students from around the globe participate in competitive robotics, building and coding robots from scratch designed to meet unique challenges. Each challenge is different; teams have already been asked to build robots that can climb walls, lift heavy objects, and even move autonomously (without user control)! And with how quickly robotics technology is advancing, there’s no way to know what new and interesting tasks are yet to come.

Robotics competitions offer much more than just the opportunity to build - each team is like a small company, with students working on design, prototyping, coding, administration, marketing, and much more. No matter your skill set, there are opportunities for you as part of a robotics team. Not only will you be able to gain valuable experience and hands-on knowledge of the rapidly growing field that is robotics, you will also make close friends and have a great community experience. More than ever, robotics is becoming a team-oriented sport, giving students the chance to meet, work, and bond with others who share their interests.

To top it all off, robotics competitions are offered at all grade levels, starting with elementary school and going all the way through high school and college. For example, FIRST Robotics offers three different levels, starting with the Lego League for younger students and going all the way up to the Robotics Competition, which draws thousands of high school students from around the world. If robotics is something you love, you can start engaging with the robotics community today through the competition world, and continue all the way up until you graduate from college!

Now more than ever, the robotics world is accessible to students of all ages, giving students the unique opportunity to learn about one of the most interesting STEM fields there is, while also making life-long friends and memories.