Alabama Robotics Competition
The 2024 contest is complete. Please check out the results here.
Come test your computer programming skills and compete with other Alabama students for cool prizes! A fun day is planned with educational experiences, food and social activities. The Alabama Robotics Competition is an event where students write programs that navigate their robot across a series of obstacle courses. Awards will be given out in several categories across multiple grade levels (elementary school, middle school, and high school).
A flyer for the 2024 contest is available here.
Coaches may apply for their teams here.
Visit the Past Events page to view photos, contest problems, and other results from previous competitions.
Please use the navigation bar above for additional information.
Why another robotics competition?
There are several excellent robotics competitions that already exist, such as the popular BEST Robotics events in Alabama and the world-wide FIRST Lego League competitions. Our contest complements these other events by filling in missing gaps of participation. After hearing from various K-12 teachers, it has been observed that a competition is needed in Alabama that met the following goals:
- A competition that is open to all grades in K-12.
- An event in the Spring that offers students studying robotics additional activities to pursue throughout the entire school year (rather than just a Fall focus).
- An emphasis on programming skills, resulting in autonomous robot control, rather than a robot that is maneuvered by a remote control. Points are scored in this new competition based on the clever solutions of student programs, rather than the skill of a teammate with a remote control.
- A registration fee that is affordable - only $75 per team(several Lego competitions have registration, fees, and kit costs over $1,000).
Essential Details
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The competition is open to all Alabama students (public, private, or home schools) across all grade levels (elementary, middle, high schools). In 2024, we will only host grades 5-12 (grades K-3 will not be eligible this year).
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Teams consist of 2-5 participants. We have space for approximately 60 teams. The registration fee is $75 per team.
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The contest will feature several obstacle courses that must be navigated over a 2.5 hour period by an autonomous robot that is programmed by each team.
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Robot programs to navigate the obstacle course may be written in any language (e.g., Mindstorms LabView, Java/Lejos, RobotC, C#, etc). It is assumed that participants already know how to program in their selected language prior to the contest.
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Students will use their own robots and their own computers to compete in the contest. Robots should be assembled in a base configuration prior to the competition.
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Each registered student will receive a pizza lunch, snack break, contest bag, T-shirt, and a certificate of participation.
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Prizes and awards will be given to the top-four teams in each division (Elementary School, Middle School, High School).
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Teachers, parents and family are encouraged to attend (please let us know on the registration form).
Application Details
- Each school may submit up to three team applications. Each team must have a unique name (e.g., adding a number to the end of each school name is sufficient).
- We will invite all teams to the contest on a first-come first-served basis, up to the 60-team limit. In 2024, there is no concept of Primary and Alternate teams, as in the past. We accept the firt three teams from each school by order of the date/time that they applied.
- After registering, participants will be sent instructions on how to pay their registration fee.
- When entering information in the Team Name box, please enter EACH TEAM MEMBER ON A SINGLE ROW and provide the following information: information for each member in the form as <Full Name>, <Grade Level>, <Shirt Size>. For example:
Joe Smith, 7, M
Sally Smith, 8, S
Suzy Smith, 7, S - All shirts are in Adult Sizes
Important Dates
- We will send invitations, if space permits, within a week of registration, until all 60 slots are full.
- April 6, 2024: Alabama Robotics Competition
Sponsors
We are very grateful to the Alabama Transportation Institute (Mobility and Power Center), zyBooks , Firia Labs, as our main sponsors, as well as the UA Department of Computer Science!
