ROBOTICON is a celebratory showcase of competitive youth STEM programs, mostly terrestrial robots but also some aerial drones.  It features FIRST and REC Foundation robotics scrimmages and qualifying competitions, demonstration events, lightweight combat robotics, and more, and ROBOTICON is the only place where you can see all these different youth competition opportunities in one place!

All events occur a AMRoC Fab Lab and University Mall (2200 E Fowler Ave, Tampa, FL 33612) in Tampa, where AMRoC is located.

Read on to see the different competitive programs teams and guests can enjoy at ROBOTICON 2024.

Under SPARC Tournament Rules, ROBOTICON will host official Ant weight, Plastic Ant, and Fairy weight class combat robotics tournaments.  Check out the video below from our State Fair Frenzy Tournament at the Florida State Fair.  The tournament is open to anyone, of any age.  Review tournament rules before registering to confirm you can build a robot to the required specifications before the event. 

The Robotics Education & Competition Foundation series of events include VEX competitions for K-12, as well as the Aerial Drone Competition, and VEX U for collegiate level game play.  REC supports more than 20,000 teams from 50 countries playing in over 1,700 tournaments worldwide. Here’s the 2024-25 games that will be played at ROBOTICON – most of which are full scale qualifying events for the new season.

For more information about any of the programs below, visit the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation website.

The Aerial Drone Competition offers an exciting educational drone sporting event that focuses on hands-on, student-centered learning.

Teams learn about drones, flight principles, programming, documentation and communication skills while expanding their understanding and building interest for Drone-related workforce and career opportunities.

Teams at ROBOTICON will  explore the new season game “Gravity”. Check out the competition details in the video below.

VEX V5 Robotics Competition High Stakes is played on a 12’ x 12’ square field configured as seen above. Two (2) Alliances – one (1) “red” and one (1) “blue” – composed of two (2) Teams each, compete in matches consisting of a fifteen (15) second Autonomous Period, followed by a one minute and forty-five second (1:45) Driver Controlled Period.  The object of the game is to attain a higher score than the opposing Alliance by Scoring Rings on Stakes, Placing Mobile Goals, and by Climbing at the end of the Match.

FIRST LEGO League gives youth ages 4 to 14 an engaging way to explore STEM-related research, design, and programming in a way that strengthens students’ communication skills and teamwork.

There are three levels of programming:

• FIRST LEGO League Discover – PreK- Grade 1 (ages 4-6) with hands-on activities in the classroom and at home using LEGO® Duplo bricks.
• FIRST LEGO League Explore – Grades 2-4(ages 6-10) focusing on the fundamentals of engineering as they explore real-world problems, learn to design and code and create unique solutions made with LEGO bricks and powered by a LEGO Education robot.
• FIRST LEGO League Challenge – Grades 4-8 (ages 9 – 14)  engage in research, problem-solving, coding and engineering – building and programming a LEGO robot that navigates the missions of a robot game. As part of Challenge, teams also participate in a research project to identify and solve a relevant real-world problem.

Visit the FIRST LEGO League website to learn more and find the right contact in your area.

FIRST Tech Challenge, for youth in 7th to 12th grade,  challenges teams to design, build, program, and operate robust small scale robots in an alliance format.

FIRST Tech Challenge robots use an Android operating system in an accessible, real-world engineering experience that’s guided by adult Coaches and Mentors.

Students also keep an engineering portfolio to document their build processes.

The 2024-25 game is called Into the Deep. Check out the game overview video below to see the design challenges teams face this year!

Visit the FIRST Tech Challenge website to learn more and find the right contact in your area.

FIRST Robotics Competition teams will play their previous season game, Cresccndo,  at ROBOTICON!  Check out the video below to see how the game is played.  Visit the FIRST Robotics Competition | FIRST (firstinspires.org) website to learn more about programs and to find a contact in your area.