Students from the following schools secured top honors at the Technology Student Association (TSA) National Conference VEX Robotics Championship that took place in National Harbor, Maryland this past weekend. Each team received the Excellence Award, Tournament Champion, Robot Skills Award and Programming Skills Award in their respective divisions: Team 6135B, Central Hardin High School from Cecilia, Kentucky in the VEX Robotics Competition High School Division and Team 2711, Haile Middle School from Bradenton, Florida in the VEX Robotics Competition Middle School Division. In the VEX IQ Challenge Middle School Division the Teamwork Challenge went to Team 7222W & Team 7222Z, Nolan Middle School from Lakewood Ranch, Florida and Team 7222W also received the Excellence Award and Robot Skills Award.

The students took part in three full days of competition with 100 teams participating from across the United States in conjunction with the 2014 TSA National Conference. The action-packed competition schedule required middle and high school students to execute the VEX Robotics Competition Toss Up, a game that requires students to maneuver their robots on a 1212?field to score points by positioning small BuckyBalls and Large Balls in Goals. Teams compete in matches consisting of a fifteen-second autonomous period followed by one minute and forty-five seconds of driver-controlled play plus individual Program Skills and Robot Skills Challenges. Teams also competed in the VEX IQ Challenge Add It Up, which is played on a 4 8?field as teams work together to achieve the highest score by placing Scoring Balls in Floor Goals, Low Goals, High Goals and Filling Rings.

ver the past three days, the students have demonstrated a great deal of engineering skill and their appreciation for science, technology, engineering and mathematics is evident in their overall enthusiasm for TSA and the VEX Robotics Competition,?said Jason Morrella, president of the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation. ogether, the REC Foundation and TSA have made significant strides by engaging students in hands-on robotics engineering programs and enabling them to gain skills that will serve them well throughout their lives.?

To prepare for the competition, the groups of students worked together to design and build a robot using VEX IQ and VEX EDR, that could quickly and efficiently solve specific obstacles and challenges that come with playing the 2013-14 games, VEX IQ Challenge Add It Up and VEX Robotics Competition Toss Up.

Each week, students apply what theye learned about science, technology, engineering and math in order to build the semiautonomous machines. An equally important set of skills is learned through the competition ?design, communication, project management, teamwork, and the importance of composure, as students learn to deal with adversity in maximizing the design and performance of their robots wins and losses.

The TSA National Conference VEX Robotics Championship is one of a series of VEX IQ Challenge events and VEX Robotics Competitions taking place internationally throughout the year. The REC Foundation manages the VEX IQ Challenge, the VEX Robotics Competition and VEX U, which are the world fastest growing competitive robotics programs for students in elementary school, middle school, high school, and college. Last season more than 10,000 teams from 33 countries participated in more than 800 events worldwide. More information about The REC Foundation is available at RobocticsEducation.org and RobotEvents.com.