ROCKWALL, Texas – July 2, 2013 – Students from L.V. Berkner High School, Team 136S, from Richardson, Texas secured top honors with the overall Excellence Award and the Tournament Champion Award for the High School Division, meanwhile students from Holman Middle School, Team 6740A, from Glen Allen, Virginia were recognized with the overall Excellence Award for the Middle School Division at the Technology Student Association (TSA) National VEX Robotics Competition that took place in Orlando, Florida.

The students took part in three full days of competition with more than 100 teams participating from across the United States in conjunction with the 2013 National TSA Conference.  The action-packed competition schedule required middle and high school students to execute VEX Sack Attack, a game that is played on a 12’x12’ square field. Teams compete in matches consisting of a twenty-second autonomous period followed by two minutes of driver-controlled play plus individual program skills and robot skills challenges. The object of the game is to attain a higher score than your opponent by scoring sacks in red and blue troughs, earning bonus points and doubling or negating goals.

“It’s wonderful to see the overall excitement, commitment to teamwork and robotics engineering design that the students displayed at the National TSA Conference,” said Jason Morrella, president of the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation. “The Technology Student Association has been a true partner in advancing STEM education with incredible robotics engineering and competition opportunities to students in their program and we are grateful for their continued support.”

To prepare for the competition, the groups worked together to design and build a robot using the VEX Robotics Design System, that could quickly and efficiently solve specific obstacles and challenges that come with playing the 2013/2014 game, VEX Sack Attack.

Each week, students apply what they’ve 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.

While Team 136S and Team 6740A won the event overall, many other teams also received awards. Award winners included:

The Robotics Education & Competition Foundation is pleased to organize and offer more than 400 VEX Robotics Competition events annually to reach well over 7,300 teams during the 2012-2013 season, which experienced 51% team growth year over year.

The TSA National VEX Robotics Competition is one of a series of VEX Robotics Competitions taking place internationally throughout the year.  VEX Robotics is the world’s fastest growing competitive robotics program for middle schools, high schools and colleges around the world, with more than 7,300 teams from 26 countries that participate in more than 400 VEX Robotics Competition events worldwide.

More information about The REC Foundation and VEX Robotics Competitions is available at robocticseducation.org and RobotEvents.com.

About the REC Foundation

The Robotics Education & Competition Foundation, a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization, supports robotics and technology events and programs that aim to inspire and motivate students to advance in STEM education. In addition to operating and supporting competitions for some of the world’s leading robotics platforms and organizations including VEX, TSA and BEST Robotics Competitions, the Foundation also provides program support and workshops focused on technology and professional development for educators – including the RobotEvents.com community portal website which helps promote multiple high quality programs and provides online registration and event pages for hundreds of events around the world.