Greenville, TX – June 10, 2021: The Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation, a 501c3 nonprofit, and VEX Robotics hosted a first-of-its-kind global student competition, the Live Remote VEX Robotics World Championship on May 17-29, 2021, that showcased the incredible talent and skills of student competitors. With 12,693 participants, this revolutionary event was recognized by GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS as the largest online robot championships. More than 1,400 combined VEX IQ Challenge Elementary & Middle School and VEX Robotics Competition Middle School and High School teams from over 30 countries and 49 US states competed in live-streamed matches and were crowned champions.
The REC Foundation and VEX Robotics created new state-of-the-art online platforms called Live Remote Tournament and Live Remote Skills, that leveraged interactive and real-time video streaming, match controls, and match scoring to unite teams from around the globe with their competition fields and robots. This cutting-edge technology allowed a team located in one country to easily compete with a team in another country, offering the possibility for even more students to get involved in robotics in the future. This technology made a live remote event of this magnitude possible and showcased the innovative problem-solving that VEX Robotics and REC Foundation programs inspire in tomorrow's leaders.
“Inspired by our student’s innovative problem solving, we created new platforms that replicate in-person interaction online to allow our global community to safely have competitions throughout the last year. These online competitions culminated in the Live Remote VEX Robotics World Championship,” said Dan Mantz, CEO of the REC Foundation. “Even though students were unable to travel this year, we were determined to find a solution to have a competition for our world-class robotics community. We’re proud this resulted in the largest live remote robotics competition ever held.”
“This year’s event is really a testament to the ingenuity of our team at VEX Robotics,” said Tony Norman, CEO and President of VEX Robotics. “If we want to train the problem solvers of tomorrow then we needed to lead by example and find a way to make this happen even under these difficult constraints. These are the exact circumstances which result in true innovation. The way teams from all over the world embraced what our staff came up with is remarkable. In a time when no one could travel and other events were being canceled, the students’ commitment, passion, and drive led to teams from over 30 countries connecting remotely and earning the event a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS record title. It’s been incredibly gratifying to see everyone’s hard work pay off and receive such recognition.”
“We are proud of the impact VEX has had on millions of students. I look forward every year to seeing how they’ll demonstrate their teamwork, creativity, and resourcefulness in solving that season’s problems. No matter what challenges we come up with, these teams will rise to meet them” said Bob Mimlitch III, Co-Founder of VEX Robotics. “I look forward to seeing all the students in person next year for the 2022 VEX Robotics World Championship in Dallas.”
The multi-day competition culminated with the unveiling of the 2021-22 competition season games, VEX Robotics Competition: Tipping Point and VEX IQ Challenge: Pitching In. Students have one year to design a robot to play the games, which are available for team registration here. Competition options for the season include in-person, Live Remote Skills, and Live Remote Tournaments. Virtual Skills programming lessons are also included in team registration for students to strategize and code their robot using VEXcode VR, the unique online coding platform for CS education.
Students also experienced many of the same World Championship traditions as past competitions such as the Parade of Nations along with Inspiration All-Star and Online Challenges awards ceremonies. New additions to the event included a Celebration of Diversity segment, VEX Innovator features, and daily live-streamed morning check-ins, and afternoon recaps on each day’s highlights. Broadcast via YouTube live, the event and matches were accessible for the community to tune into matches to cheer on their teams on a global level and in real-time. All streams are available to watch on the REC Foundation YouTube channel.
The REC Foundation’s Live Remote VEX Robotics World Championship 2021 was presented by the Northrop Grumman Foundation. Other global sponsors that support the program year-round and were showcased during the event included: Autodesk, Dell, Google, MathWorks, Microchip, NASA, Tesla, Texas Instruments, and VEX Robotics.
The REC Foundation’s VEX Robotics World Championship, presented by the Northrop Grumman Foundation, will return to Dallas, Texas from 2022 through 2024. More information about the event can be found at vexworlds.com and for students, teachers, and mentors looking to get involved with the new season, click here.
About the Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation
The Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation’s mission is to increase student interest and involvement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by engaging students in hands-on, affordable, and sustainable robotics engineering programs.
About VEX Robotics
VEX Robotics is a leading provider of educational and competitive robotics products to schools, universities, and robotics teams around the world. The VEX 123, GO, IQ, V5, V5 Workcell, and VEXcode VR product lines span from elementary school all the way through college with accessible, scalable, and affordable robotics solutions. Beyond science and engineering principles, a VEX Robotics project encourages teamwork, leadership, and problem solving among groups. It allows educators to easily customize projects to meet the level of student's abilities as they inspire and prepare the STEM problem-solvers of tomorrow.
About Guinness World Records
What is the fastest game bird in Europe? This was the question that inspired the founding of Guinness World Records back in 1955. Starting with a single book published from a room above a gym, GWR has grown to become a global multimedia brand, with offices in London, New York, Miami, Beijing, Tokyo, and Dubai. Today, we deliver world class content, not just through Books, but via TV shows, Social Media, and Live Events. Every year, our in-house consultancy helps thousands of brands, businesses, and organizations to harness the power of record-breaking and deliver award-winning campaigns and business solutions – engaging audiences, creating captivating, shareable content and telling authentic stories that generate genuine media impact. To find out more about record-breaking for businesses, click here.
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