Robotics festival and competitions designed for STEM+C education

Abstract

In order to promote and support STEM+C (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics plus Computing, Coding, or Computer Science) education, a student-centered robotics festival and competition called Robofest (www.robofest.net) was launched in 1999. Robofest's primary focus is the learning of STEM subjects together with computer science through autonomous robotics. When we make robots think, we will learn more because we have to think more. We believe programming team-built robots provide an effective environment to learn and exercise STEM disciplines in a truly integrated fashion. Furthermore, Robofest challenges are designed in such a way that dead reckoning is discouraged, which means students must program their robots with sensors to accomplish tasks in a dynamic and partially unknown environment. Through the challenges with unknown factors that require programming without adults' direct help, students learn, reinforce, and master STEM+C knowledge for twenty-first-century jobs. Robofest meets the needs of students based on their respective age, interest, learning style, and prior experience by offering diverse competitions such as Game, Exhibition, Vision Centric Challenge (VCC), Global Robotics Art Festival (GRAF), and Unknown Mission Challenge (UMC). As entry-level challenges for beginners, Robofest offers BottleSumo, RoboParade, and Carnival. After 17 years, there are currently over 2500 students participating in our programs annually in fifteen US states and fourteen other countries. Assessment and survey results have shown that the Robofest robotics experience has provided on opportunity for thousands of participants to learn more about STEM. Importantly, more students in the post-survey have indicated that they would consider a career involving STEM after Robofest exposure.