CORE Competitions

This page lists competitions sponsored by CORE as well as other competitions in Texas.

Engineering And Robotics Learned Young (EARLY) is a program that exposes our youth to engineering. EARLY provides 7 to 12 year olds the opportunity to participate in a robotics competition every fall and spring.

The competition robots are built from LEGO® Simple Machines kits which have a comprehensive curriculum available for easy implementation into the classroom. The combination of curriculum and competition allows teachers to have all their students complete some of the Simple Machines activities, which are approximately 45 minutes each, and then invite those students that are interested to participate on the EARLY team.

Primary (Grades 3-5) and middle school (Grades 6-8) students interested in science and engineering will participate in the design and construction of a model of a Mars Rover to carry out a specific science mission on the surface of Mars. The model will be mostly a mock-up, constructed at a minimal cost (estimated cost of less than $10-$25) of mostly found objects and simple art supplies. If desired, teachers may supply students with a low cost ($10) solar powered car kit to serve as the chassis, or a low cost ($25) RC kit. RC, Solar powered, and free-form (unpowered) models will participate separately. The students will build the models as part of a 6-week Fall semester classroom-learning or homework project on Mars. The students will be given design criteria for a rover, and be required to do basic research on Mars that will determine the operational objectives and structural features of their rover. This module may be used as part of a class studying general science, earth science, solar system astronomy or robotics or as a multi-disciplinary unit for a gifted and talented program. Entries will be limited to the first 50 schools to enter. Schools are encouraged to have entire grades participate. Participation in the finals on January 28 may be limited to the best 3 teams of 4 students from each school if ~40-50 schools enter.

(Marine Advanced Technology Education Center) ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) Competition. Sonny Carter Training Center, NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Lab, Houston, Texas. The MATE Center coordinates an international student ROV competition and a network of 17 regional ROV contests that take place across U.S. and in Canada, Hong Kong, and Scotland. Student teams from middle schools, high schools, home schools, community colleges, and universities participate in the events, which consist of different “classes” that vary depending on the sophistication of the ROVs and the mission requirements. The Explorer Class is for college and university level teams. The University of Houston competes in the Explorer Class program. The Ranger Class is for middle school, high school and first year college level competitors.

The Botball^® Educational Robotics Program puts middle and high school students on the creative side of technology as they design, build, program, and document a pair of robots that work in tandem to score points during a tournament. To find out more about how Botball uses science, technology, engineering, and math to teach students how to solve real world problems.

FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is a unique varsity sport of the mind designed to help high-school-aged young people discover how interesting and rewarding the life of engineers and researchers can be.

Robofest is an annual autonomous robotics competition for students in grades 5 - 12. Robofest challenges teams of students to design, build, and program robots to compete in playful missions and exhibitions. Students have fun while learning computer programming, engineering, math, and science. We are lucky to have two Robofest competitions in the Houston area.

The CSTEM Sea Turtle Robotics Challenge aims to connect various content areas through project based learning interdisciplinary in scope. This initiative upholds a feeder pattern concept which allows elementary, middle, and high school students to collaboratively solve problems in STEM. The robotics competition provides an opportunity for students to develop team building skills, serve as mentors, and apply STEM to solve real-life problems.