Robofest is a competition

Robot competition

A robotic competition is an event where robots have to accomplish a given task. Usually they have to beat other robots in order to become the best one.Most competitions are for schools but as time goes by, several professional competitions are arising....

 for 5-12 graders. It is similar to FIRST Lego League

FIRST Lego League

The FIRST® LEGO® League is an international competition organized by FIRST for elementary and middle school students ....

 (FLL), but while FLL limits the student's robots to Lego Mindstorms

Lego Mindstorms

The LEGO Mindstorm series of kits contain software and hardware to create small, customizable and programmable robots. They include a programmable 'Brick' computer that controls the system, a set of modular sensors and motors, and LEGO parts from the Technics line to create the mechanical...

 robots, Robofest allows the student to use any robotics system in some of the events. Also, in FLL students are only allowed to use parts manufactured by Lego, preventing the use of such aids as string or glue. Robofest is sponsored by Lawrence Technological University

Lawrence Technological University

Lawrence Technological University, also known as Lawrence Tech or simply LTU, is a private university located in Southfield, Michigan. The school offers undergraduate, masters, and doctoral programs in engineering, science, mathematics, architecture, graphic design, and business...

.

Robofest is also held internationally, and teams who win their regional event are welcome to participate at the worldwide tournament which is held in Michigan.

Competitions

There are a total of seven different competitions in Robofest.

• Game Competition - Students compete with two robots to work together autonomously to complete the given missions.
• Exhibition - Robotic contraptions to do the designers task.
• Robosumo -Competing robots attempt to push each other out of the ring.
• VEX Pentathlon - VEX robots compete in five events.
• RoboFashion Show - Costumed robots present themselves on a track.
• Vision Based Mini Urban Robot Challenge - Robots drive along a realistic road, stopping at "traffic lights" drawn on the road.
• VEX Bridge Battle - Two VEX robots compete on a bridge.

Competition Levels

• Junior - 5th-8th graders can compete with an easier unknown problem
• Senior - 9th-12th graders can compete with a somewhat harder unknown problem

Other RoboFests

The word RoboFest was used for a robot event by the Robot Group of Austin, Texas, at least as early as 1989. The Robot Group had a yearly RoboFest through the 1990s.

There are various other RoboFests:

• Malaysia (archived at www.archive.org, archive retrieved 2008-09-01]
• Hawaii
• Maine
• Kansas City