Robofest

Robofest is a competition for 5-12 graders. [ [http://www.robofest.net/home.htm Robofest homepage] ] It is similar to FIRST Lego League (FLL), but while FLL limits the student's robots to Lego Mindstorms robots, Robofest allows the student to use any robotics system in some of the events. Also, in FLL students are only allowed to use parts manufactured by Lego, preventing the use of such aids as string or glue. Robofest is sponsored by Lawrence Technological University. [ [http://www.robofest.net/allsponsors.htm Robofest sponsor list] ]

Robofest is also held internationally, and teams who win their regional event are welcome to participate at the worldwide tournament which is held in Michigan.

Competitions

There are a total of seven different competitions in Robofest. [ [http://www.robofest.net/home.htm Robofest homepage] ]

*Game Competition - Students compete with two robots to work together autonomously to complete the given missions. [ [http://www.robofest.net/game.htm Robofest Game Competition page] ]
*Exhibition - Robotic contaptions to do the designers task. [ [http://www.robofest.net/exhibition.htm Robofest Exhibition page] ]
*Robosumo -Competing robots attempt to push each other out of the ring. [ [http://www.robofest.net/2008/robosumo/ Robofest Robosumo page] ]
*VEX Pentathlon - VEX robots compete in five events. [ [http://www.robofest.net/5thlon.htm Robofest VEX Pentathlon page] ]
*RoboFashion Show - Costumed robots present themselves on a track. [ [http://www.robofest.net/fashionShow.htm Robofest RoboFashion Show page] ]
*Vision Based Mini Urban Robot Challenge - Robots drive along a realistic road, stopping at "traffic lights" drawn on the road. [ [http://www.robofest.net/collegiate/ Robofest Mini Urban Challenge page] ]
*VEX Bridge Battle - Two VEX robots compete on a bridge.

Competition Levels

*Junior - 5th-8th graders can compete with an easier unknown problem
*Senior - 9th-12th graders can compete with a somewhat harder unknown problem

Other RoboFests

The word RoboFest was used for a robot event by the Robot Group of Austin, Texas, [cite web
url=http://blog.therobotgroup.org/site/
title=The Robot Group
publisher=blog.therobotgroup.org
accessdate=2008-06-17] at least as early as 1989. [cite web
url=http://www.robotgroup.net/history/robofest/robof1.html
title=The Robot Group _RoboFest 1-1989
publisher=www.robotgroup.net
accessdate=2008-06-17] The Robot Group had a yearly RoboFest through the 1990s.

There are various other RoboFests:

* [http://www.robofest.org.my/robofest.html Malaysia] (archived at [http://web.archive.org/web/20070625055707/http://www.robofest.org.my/robofest.html www.archive.org] , archive retrieved 2008-09-01]
* [http://astroday.net/RoboFest.html Hawaii]
* [http://www.wccnet.edu/highschool/robofest.php Maine]
* [http://www.kansascityrobotics.org/showthread.php?t=250 Kansas City]

References

External links

* [http://www.robofest.net Robofest Home]
* [http://www.ltu.edu Lawrence Technological University]