What Is RoboRAVE International?

RoboRAVE International is New Mexico’s largest robotics competition for students in grades 3-12. A program of Inquiry Facilitators Inc., RoboRAVE International provides an exciting sports-like competition that gets kids engaged in academics and practicing 21st century workforce skills while gaining access to the world of high tech industry. (RAVE stands for Robots Are Very Educational.) firecrowd.jpg We provide four robot challenges, JOUSTING (ES,MS), LINE FOLLOWING (ES,MS,HS,BK), FIRE FIGHTING (MS,HS,BK) and ROBOTOVATE (HS,BK). Teams compete in one of four divisions: Elementary (grades 3-5), Middle (grades 6-8), High (grades 9-12) and Big Kids (anyone beyond high school). Your team does NOT have to be a school group. We have teams from Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, YWCA, or just from families.

Coaches manage as many teams (2 to 4 students, with the oldest kid determining the division) as they want BUT at least one coach is required. The median number of teams by one coach? Three. The minimum (1) to 28 (for 2013).

Teams can come from anywhere. Any student, from anywhere!

RoboRAVE International is held on the 1st Friday and Saturday in May. On Friday, our Kickoff Day, students can participate in college and career seminars, get technical support on their robots, qualify to compete in the Fire Fighting challenge, race to find out who has the fastest ‘bot, and eat lots of ice cream at our Ice Cream Social.  On Saturday, it’s ‘bot against ‘bot as teams compete in the four challenges.

The annual competition is held at the Robouquerque Convention Center which provides us tens of thousands of square feet for FUN. Our number 1 goal is: FUN. Yes we are a competition but more importantly…we are a BIG DYNAMIC WORKSHOP for kids (and coaches) to learn together.

Robots in three of the four RoboRAVE International challenges are 100% autonomous. This means a computer program controls the robot actions vs. being operated by remote control.  We DO allow remote-controlled robots in our NEW 2013 Robotovate Challenge.

Robots at RoboRAVE International can have any kind of platform, that is, they can be any type of robot. So we say our competition is 100% open platform. Some common types of robots used by students are Lego RCX, Lego NXT, BoeBot, Arduino, or Parallax.

The LINE FOLLOWING CHALLENGE requires the robot to follow a line to a tower, deliver a payload into the tower, and return home, all guided by its own programming. Points are awarded in during 3-minute heats. OPEN to ALL DIVISIONS.

In the FIRE FIGHTING CHALLENGE, robots locate four lit candles, stop, and extinguish all four flames in a three-minute heat. Points are awarded during the 3-minute heats. OPEN to Middle, High, and Big Kid Divisions. Everyone PLAYS in 1 DIVISION. So little kids vs. big kids…if you’re good enough to compete in this event, then you get to compete against all ages.

In the JOUSTING CHALLENGE robots, carrying a “knight,” follow parallel black lines, starting at opposite ends. Teams try to make their “knight” knock their opponent’s knight off its robot first. OPEN to Elementary and Middle School Divisions.

In the ROBOTOVATE CHALLENGE, teams create a new, never-seen-before robot (remote-controlled or autonomous) for one of four categories:

• Helping Humans
• Biomimicry
• 3-D Motion
• Old Tech/New Use

EARN POINTS BEFORE THE EVENT: Elementary, Middle and High School students can earn points before the competition by completing engineering writing, producing a short video to document their work, and/or forming a corporate partnership by securing a letter of support, along with their new partnership’s logo to display on the robot.

Some examples of showing off their corporate partner’s logo or name at the 2011 event.

To get a team started, a coach must register with RoboRAVE International on our website.

It costs $50 to register a robot before February 1st and $100 from February 2nd until April 1st, the final registration deadline.

Each robot challenge requires a separate robot.

We sell everything you need for competition at our store.

If you’re from outside of Albuquerque, you’ll also need to consider the costs of traveling to the competition and staying overnight in Albuquerque before the competition. Our event hotel offers special rates so don’t delay…get your rooms today…they do go fast!

Here’s a list of the prizes you can win at RoboRAVE International:

Other Awards: (edited 2.22.13)

• Highest Scoring Engineering Summary – Elementary School Division Winner: $50/team
• Highest Scoring Engineering Overview – Middle School Division Winner: $100/team
• Highest Scoring Engineering Report – High School Division Winner: $200/team
• Highest Scoring Video Winner: $100 /team
• Most Corporate Letters and Logos on Robots Winner: $200/team
• Wilkinson Award: Awarded to any team that extinguishes all 4 candles during an afternoon tournament’s 3-minute heat. A team can only win the award once a year, but more than one team can win. $200/team
• Fastest ‘Bot (at the Ice Cream Social ONLY) Winner: $100/team

You can get answers to your questions and help for your team from our staff, veteran coaches and players, and from our alumni. Contact us.

You can attend a workshop or learn about robot building and programming, team building, project management and more from our website.

To find out when and where workshops will be held, visit RoboRAVE International news or contact us.

You can purchase all the materials you need to start a team at our store.

You can earn points before the competition:

    Line Following Challenge Tracks:

The Elementary School Division track is a line without any “T”    intersections.

    The Middle School Division track has one “T” intersection.

    The High School track has two “T” intersections.

What happens at a LINE FOLLOWING Challenge workshop?

Workshops are for Players and Coaches.   Students and adults will program and test a Lego NXT robot in preparation for the LINE FOLLOWING or JOUSTING Challenges.

What happens at a FIRE FIGHTING Challenge workshop?
Workshops are for Players and Coaches  Students and adults will troubleshoot, redesign and test new ideas to win the FIRE FIGHTING Challenge, using different surfaces, programs and platforms.

We’ve held workshops in all corners of New Mexico. To find out about current workshops, see our news or contact pam@gotoif.org.