PHOTOS
ROBOTICON 2023, our 11th STEAM Showcase event, this year continued as a monthlong celebration of all things science, tech and automation, with different competitive events each weekend in October. We also kicked things off this year with a sensory-friendly Sensational SciFest, hosted by community partner, Scientists Inc, and designed for youth with neurodivergent needs. The rest of our Manufacturing Month event included our annual FIRST Robotics Competition off-season held at Brooks DeBartolo Collegiate High School, with the remainder of our event held at University Mall, including an Elementary and Middle School Robotics Showcase including FIRST LEGO League and Cutebot fun, Combat Robotics, REC Foundation Aerial Drone Competition, VEX Robotics Competition, and a FIRST Tech Challenge Build and Practice Day. By the end of the month, over 1800 youth, families, friends, sponsors, and community partners got to enjoy a STEAM Education buffet that helped introduce more people to STEM learning opportunities, grow local teams and introduce youth to career and academic pathways to a better future!
Click the links below to see photos of each of our 2023 events:
- FIRST Robotics Competition Off-Season (held at Brooks DeBartolo HS) – Oct 7 & 8
- Elementary & Middle School STEAM Showcase – Oct 14
- ROBOTICON Rumble Combat Robotics – Oct 21
- VEX Robotics Competition tournament – Oct 28
- FIRST Tech Challenge Build & Practice Day – Oct. 28
Livestream video courtesy of founding event partner PLUGHITZ, can be found on the 2023 ROBOTICON YouTube Playlist.
Click the links below to see photos from each weekend’s events:
- FIRST Robotics Competition Off-Season Photo Album –Held Oct 8 & 9
- Robotics Education Competition (REC) Foundation VEX IQ Tournament Photos– Held Oct. 15
- REC Foundation VRC Tournament Photos -Held Oct. 16
- Combat Robotics Tournament Photos – Held Oct. 22
- FIRST Tech Challenge & VEX U Scrimmage & Aerial Drone Competition Photos – Held Oct. 29
ROBOTICON 2022 marked our 10th annual Youth STEM Showcase event! Held at University Mall (soon to be RITHM at Uptown), the event ran the full month of October, bringing over 1000 students together with different competitive STEM programs showcased each weekend, including FIRST Robotics Competition, FIRST Tech Challenge, VEX IQ, VEX Robotics Competition, Combat Robotics, and Aerial Drone Competition. ROBOTICON 2022 gave the general public a very accessible and exciting look at the various types of competitive STEM programs children and families can enjoy and benefit from. Visit the ROBOTICON YouTube Channel to see the 2022 Playlistto find video and stories about each program.
ROBOTICON 2021: The Adventure Continues! was a month-long hybrid event held at AMRoC Fab Lab in University Mall. As the COVID-19 pandemic held sway for a 2nd season, ROBOTICON 2021 provided a way for youth to participate in a safe, in-person event over the course of October. Nearly 50 teams – over 500 youth – from around Florida attended program specific scrimmages each weekend in October, while hundreds more watched Livestream coverage of matches online and enjoyed weekday education content online, as well.
Click the image at the right to see the full ROBOTICON 2021 event album and visit our YouTube Channel to see the 2021 ROBOTICON Playlist!
ROBOTICON 2020 was a digital adventure, as we turned to a two-week long virtual livestreaming event so the Showcase could go on, during the COVID-19 pandemic. With 30 registered teams, and over 45 hours of livestreamed content, ROBOTICON 2020 will enter our personal record book as one of our most memorable events. It was also the perfect time for FIRST LEGO League teams to shine – which they did with enormous, enthuisastic abandon! Thank you to all the teams, and sponsors who joined together to make ROBOTICON 2020 fun and successful, and proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that it definitely is far #morethanrobots. It’s about showing up, and keeping the wonder and curiosity alive! Click the image at left to see a screen shot album!
ROBOTICON 2019 drew more than 4000 people to the University of South Florida Yuengling Center on October 12 & 13, for our 7th annual FIRST Showcase and FIRST Robotics Competition off-season event. In keeping with the FIRST: Rise theme, ROBOTICON was rich with Star Wars-themed fun, with help from the R2Builders organization, and the 501st Legion. This year’s Industry Showcase featured a lot of hands on fun and learning, from designing your own marble run to making binary bracelets. We were saddened by the announcement of the passing of Dr. Woodie Flowers during the event, but heartened by the warm response that turned ROBOTICON 2019 into a tribute to Dr. Flowers. Click image at right to see our collection of photos from ROBOTICON 2019!
ROBOTICON 2018 topped our charts, with over 4000 people in attendance over the September 29 & 30 weekend. In keeping with our FIRST Launch Space theme , we were joined by special guest, Kurt Leucht, of NASA Kennedy Space Center, and guests got to learn about careers at NASA, and explore a variety of interesting interactive exhibits from the University of South Florida College of Engineering, as well as sponsor exhibits. Click image at left to see all our photos from ROBOTICON 2018!
ROBOTICON 2017 was our biggest and best event ever, attended by 3000 people who enjoyed playing and watching FIRST Steamworks, as well as all the other great activities, scrimmages and fantastic USF displays available throughout the weekend. In addition to nearly 30 FIRST Robotics Competition teams, we were joined by over a dozen FIRST LEGO League teams, and a dozen FIRST Tech Challenge teams, as well as several FIRST LEGO League Jr. teams. Check out these great interviews from our 2017 event by our live coverage partner, PLuGHiTz Live.
ROBOTICON 2016 marked our inaugural event at the University of South Florida Sun Dome Arena, a venue more than twice the size of the previous one at UT, a perfect place to showcase the exciting FIRST Stronghold game! There was also plenty of room for FIRST Tech Challenge and FIRST LEGO League teams, and even a mini FIRST LEGO League Jr expo. We were super excited to be joined by teams from China! Oh – and there was a hurricane – but the games went on to a packed house! ROBOTICON 2016 event interviews with our live coveage partner, PLuGHiTz Live are here.
We packed the UT gym to the rafters for ROBOTICON 2015, bringing in FIRST LEGO League scrimmages along with FIRST Tech Challenge and the FIRST Robotics Competition off-season game play. Recycle Rush stacked them high, fast and furious for our last event at the University of Tampa. Check out the great PLuGHiTz Live Radio interviews from ROBOTICON 2015 here.
Sporting the new name “ROBOTICON”. our 2014 marked our second year at the University of Tampa and showcased the FIRST Robotics Competition game Aerial Assist.
PLuGHitZ Live coverage is here.
Originally known as “ROBOCON” our inaugural event in 2013 hosted about 15 teams at the University of Tampa Bob Martinez Center, to enjoy playing the FIRST Robotics Competition game, Ultimate Ascent.
Find PLuGHiTz Live Radio Interview coverage of our 2013 event here.
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