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RVA area VEX robotics teams have continued their success at local tournaments. In all, seventeen teams from the area have qualified for and will be competing at the Virginia State Championship. Teams qualify for the Championship by winning specific awards at local tournaments held throughout the Commonwealth from November through February. Additionally, teams can also earn “wildcard” spots at the Championship through Robot Skills scores that they post throughout the season at official qualifying events. Seven of the RVA area teams earned automatic qualifying spots through award winning performances at local events, with the remaining ten teams earning berths based on their impressive Robot Skills score.

Since the inaugural year of the Virginia VEX Robotics State Championship, at least one division has been won by a team local to the RVA area. Some teams to watch this year include Synonyms of Awesome and Atlantis, both competing in the Middle School VEX IQ State Championship. Synonyms of Awesome currently holds the highest Robot Skills Challenge score in the World and Atlantis isn’t far behind at number nine. Synonyms of Awesome was the runner up at the State Championship last year and both Synonyms of Awesome and Atlantis have qualified for the World Championship in the past. Both teams have won Excellence awards and been overall teamwork champions at local events this season.

In the Elementary School VEX IQ State Championship, RoboRacers and ThinkRobots have the potential to win it all. While they are both new to VEX IQ this year, they both have Robot Skills scores in the top three in Virginia and RoboRacers has won the Excellence Award and been Teamwork Champions at local events this season. RoboKai is also a newcomer to VEX robotics and is competing in the Elementary School VEX IQ State Championship with three teams. Those teams are the most State Championship teams from any one RVA area organization and the most from any organization in the Commonwealth competing in the Elementary School division.

The three high school teams from the RVA area competing in the State Championship – Soaring Eagles, Tesla, and Xeon – all have the potential to make a strong run. Soaring Eagles is competing in high school for the first time, but they have a long history of success and have won the State Championship in their division for the last three years and are currently ranked number ten in Robot Skills in Virginia. Tesla is a local tournament Champion and has previously won the State Championship at the Middle School level and competed at the World Championship. Xeon, like Tesla, currently has a Robot Skills score in the top 15 in Virginia and has competed at the World Championship before.

The State Championships will be held on Friday and Saturday, March 6 and 7 at Meadow Event Park, 13191 Dawn Boulevard, Doswell, Virginia 23047. Come out and cheer on your local teams at the State Championship!

High School VEX VRC

• Automatic Qualifiers
  • 737Z Midlothian Robotics Club – Tournament Champions
  • 8086X Team Semiconductors – Robot Skills Champions
  • 87471A Soaring Eagles – Robot Skills Champions

Middle School VEX IQ

• Automatic Qualifiers
  • 50252A Robious Robotics (#1 skills in World) – Excellence Award, Teamwork Champions
  • 28024A Atlantis (#9 skills in World) – Excellence Award, Teamwork Champions
  • 95032T Robo-Turtles – Teamwork Champions
• Robot Skills Qualifiers
  • 13015A, 13015D Short Pump Middle School
  • 23059R Holman Middle School
  • 57539A TechnoBuilders
  • 70484A Pink Panda Dumplingz

Elementary School VEX IQ

• Automatic Qualifiers
  • 36521A RoboRacers – Excellence Award, Teamwork Champions
• Robot Skills Qualifiers
  • 369A Infinity
  • 23113A, 23113C, 23113D RoboKai
  • 47676A ThinkRobots

Great job to all and good luck at States!

The VEX Robotics Virginia State Championship was recently held at Meadow Event Park in Doswell on March 1st and 2nd. RVA area VEX teams continued their long-standing success. All divisions in which an RVA area team competed was won by an RVA area team.

RVA area teams won the State Championship in the Elementary School VEX IQ, Middle School VEX IQ, and High School VEX VRC divisions. In all, RVA area teams brought home seven awards from the State Championship and five RVA area teams qualified for the World Championship to be held in Louisville, Kentucky April 24th through April 30th, 2019.

High School VEX VRC

• 177V Twisted Botz (Richmond Homeschoolers, Richmond) – Virginia State Championship Tournament Champions (World Championship Qualifier)

Middle School VEX IQ

• 67471A Soaring Eagles (Glen Allen) – Virginia State Championship Excellence Award, Teamwork Champions and Robot Skills Champions (World Championship Qualifier)
• 50252A Synonyms of Awesome (Robious Robotics, Midlothian) – Virginia State Championship Teamwork 2nd Place and Amaze Award (Robot Skills World Championship Qualifier)
• 28024A Atlantis (Glen Allen) – Robot Skills World Championship Qualifier

Elementary School VEX IQ

• 57539 TechnoBuilders (River’s Edge Elementary School, Glen Allen) – Virginia State Championship Teamwork Champions (World Championship Qualifier)

Great job to all and good luck at Worlds!

The VEX Robotics Virginia State Championship was recently held at Meadow Event Park in Doswell on February 16th and 17th. RVA area VEX teams continued their incredible season-long success and had an impressive showing at the State Championship at all levels. In all, seven RVA area teams earned awards at the State Championship, four of which were State Champions, and six RVA area teams qualified for the World Championship to be held in Louisville, Kentucky April 25th through May 1st, 2018.

High School VEX VRC

• 177V Twisted Botz (Richmond Homeschoolers, Richmond) – Virginia State Championship Tournament Champions and World Championship Qualifier
• 8086A Semiconductors (Team Semiconductors, Glen Allen) – Virginia State Championship Tournament Champions and World Championship Qualifier
• 6740A Alvin (Team Alvin, Glen Allen) – Robot Skills World Championship Qualifier

Middle School VEX VRC

• 737Z Tesla AC (Midlothian Robotics Club, Midlothian) – Virginia State Championship Tournament Champions and World Championship Qualifier

Middle School VEX IQ

• 67471A Soaring Eagles (Glen Allen) – Virginia State Championship Teamwork Champions, Robot Skills Champions and World Championship Qualifier
• 23059V Voyager (Holman Middle School, Glen Allen) – Virginia State Championship Teamwork 2nd Place and Robot Skills World Championship Qualifier
• 23059G Genesis (Holman Middle School, Glen Allen) – Virginia State Championship Inspire Award

Elementary School VEX IQ

• 36512A Tech Titans (Colonial Trail Elementary, Glen Allen) – Virginia State Championship Teamwork 2nd Place

Great job to all and good luck at Worlds!

Student-led robotics teams from the Richmond region had their biggest showing ever at the recent 2017 VEX Robotics World Championship in Louisville, Kentucky.

Nine Richmond area teams competed against hundreds of teams from around the world. Two of the five local high school teams – Semiconductors and Twisted Botz — made it to their division finals, and all the middle school and elementary teams made it to their division playoffs.

Teams from the Richmond area make up just 5% of all VEX teams in Virginia, but accounted for 25% of the Virginia teams that competed at the VEX Robotics World Championship and 85% of those that made it to their division playoffs. Two high school teams and one elementary team also finished among the world’s top 25 in the Robot Skills category, with the elementary team, Soaring Eagles from Glen Allen, finishing third.

“Interest in robotics as a teaching tool has been increasing steadily in the Richmond region, and this strong showing at Worlds indicates just how competitive our local teams are,” says Mike Hallock-Solomon, one of the founders of RVA Robotics, a nonprofit that helps schools and parents establish teams locally.

VEX Robotics is a hands-on program that teaches students of all ages to design, build and program their own robots using pre-fabricated components. Some of the teams are organized by schools, while others are organized independently by families. Students typically work on their robots over the course of six to nine months, with local and regional competitions beginning in the fall.

The VEX Robotics World Championship, held every spring, is the world’s largest robotics competition and is organized through the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation. VEX robotics competitions are the fastest growing competitive robotics programs for elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and colleges around the world, with nearly 18,000 teams from over 40 countries. Teams qualify for the World Championship based on their performance at state and regional championships. This years’ Virginia State Championship was held February 17-18 at Meadow Event Park in Doswell.

RVA area VEX teams have experienced incredible success this year, with nine teams qualifying for the VEX Robotics World Championship! Four of those nine teams are Virginia State Champions: 67471A Soaring Eagles (VEX IQ Elementary School), 23059M Mercurcy (VEX IQ Middle School), 8086A Semiconductors (VEX VRC High School) and 6740B Simon (VEX VRC High School)!

Congratulations to the RVA area VEX World Championship qualifiers…

Elementary School VEX IQ Teams

• 67471A Soaring Eagles (River’s Edge Elementary School, Glen Allen) – Virginia State Championship Teamwork Champions
• 50252 Synonyms of Awesome (Robious Robotics, Midlothian) – Robot skills qualifier

Middle School VEX IQ Teams

• 23059M Mercury (Holman Middle School, Glen Allen) – Virginia State Championship Teamwork Champions
• 23059G Genesis (Holman Middle School, Glen Allen) – Virginia State Championship Design Award

High School VEX VRC Teams

• 8086A Semiconductors (Team Semiconductors, Glen Allen) – Virginia State Championship Tournament Champions and Robot Skills Champions
• 6740B Simon (Team Alvin, Glen Allen) – Virginia State Championship Tournament Champions
• 177V Twisted Botz (Richmond Homeschoolers, Richmond) – Robot skills qualifier
• 6740A Alvin (Team Alvin, Glen Allen) – Robot skills qualifier
• 8086X Xeon (Team Semiconductors, Glen Allen) – Robot skills qualifier

Good luck at Worlds!