RoboCup Federation
Combine your interests in robotics and sports competitions when you join RoboCup! Work with a team to build and program robots to perform in a series of challenges, and advance through local, regional and national competitions.
RoboCup is an international scientific initiative with the goal to advance the state of the art of intelligent robots. When established in 1997, the original mission was to field a team of robots capable of winning against the human soccer World Cup champions by 2050. The RoboCup has evolved into a series of robotics competitions in which students in high school through college work in teams at the local, regional, and then international level to build autonomous robots that complete a series of challenges. RoboCup challenges occur throughout the world.
How do I get started? Click here.
How do I expand this narrative arc? If robotics is part of your narrative arc you might consider one of the many national robotics competitions, each of which involves different rules, parameters and prizes. For example:
Build something socially useful in the Firefighting Robot Competition
Check out the MIT BeaverWorks Summer Institute, where you’ll learn about engineering and designing autonomous systems in a variety of applications including cybersecurity, hacking, race car design, autonomous air vehicle racing, game design with AI and more!!
There are also some interesting marine-based robotics programs where individuals and teams compete to build remotely operated vehicles to explore underwater environments.
HOT TIP: Robotics competitions that are led by a teacher or coach are a great way for you to develop a mentoring relationship with an adult who can comment on your academic and personal strengths. Often teachers in the classroom don’t have insight into things like how a student adapts to challenges and works with a team. Learn as much as you can from your teacher/coach and remember that this is a great “vehicle” for developing a solid college or job recommendation.