What is RoboRAVE?

      

      

        

          
            

              A Robotics Education program to teach students and teachers how to design, build, program and test robots to perform a variety of tasks.
            

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              An International Robotics Competition for teams of kids, ages 8 to adults, to test their design in one or more events.
            

            

            

              Our motto: "Today's Play, Tomorrow's Pay."
            

            

            

              Our three goals: Fun while Learning, Sharing, & Teamwork
            

          		
          
            

              
            

          		
        

      

    

    

      

        
History of RoboRAVE

      



Flag Face
In 2001, twenty-five high school students and three teachers came together to compete in the first New Mexico RoboRAVE.



Smokey Trujillo, a long time teacher at Santa Fe Indian School and with us since the 1st year, coined the acronym, R.A.V.E., for Robots Are Very Educational.



In 2002 the competition became a program of Inquiry Facilitators Inc., a nonprofit founded by Russ Fisher-Ives, a former math and physics teacher and one of the competition's three founders. Since 2007, IF, Inc. has provided over three hundred robotics workshops for students and teachers in every corner of New Mexico.



Academic Athletes
Teams from other countries (Mexico, lead by Alejandro Martinez and Evangelina Sanchez from Juarez) began competing in 2004, and the name was changed shortly after from NM RoboRAVE to RoboRAVE International. As others learned about RoboRAVE International the requests came in to hold the competition in other countries. The first RoboRAVE Czech Republic was held in 2012; RoboRAVE Colombia premiered in October 2013, and RoboRAVE China and RoboRAVE Mexico were held in February and June 2014, respectively.We now have: RoboRAVE Latin America (Colombia), RoboRAVE Nigeria, RoboRAVE Asia, RoboRAVE Guadalajara, RoboRAVE Canada, RoboRAVE Iberia, RoboRAVE India, and RoboRAVE Germany!



Capitan Kids
In 2012, a new division for "Big Kids," (i.e., anyone beyond high school) was opened. Each year, we provide robot challenges (competitions) that range from introductory to advanced thus providing an opportunity for every age and every level.



RoboRAVE International is now New Mexico's largest K-16 robotics competition. In May 2015, over 1500 elementary, middle, and high school students from more than seventy New Mexico schools joined Big Kids and kids from 9 countries to compete at the annual competition held in Albuquerque, aka Roboquerque.



In 2014, IF Inc. held its first Robot Academy, funded by Intel, simultaneously for adults to work as teams to learn about robotics; programming for our robot challenges; spend the whole day at the event for 1st hand knowledge, and develop a plan to implement robotics back home.



In 2015, RoboRAVE International began scoring for teams on Friday and Saturday. As we increased the number of teams, we changed to give teams more time to play and continued the same for 2016, 2017, and onwards.


    


    

      

        
Important Moments

      

      

        

          

            
2001

            
              Twenty-five high school students and three teachers came together to compete in the First New Mexico RoboRAVE.
            
          

          

            
2002

            
              The competition became a program of Inquiry Facilitators Inc., a nonprofit founded by Russ Fisher-Ives, a former math, and physics teacher and one of the competition's three founders.
            
          

          

            
2004

            
              Mexico Attends New Mexico RoboRAVE becoming the first International event.
            
          

          

            
2007

            
              Provided over three hundred robotics workshops for students and teachers in every corner of New Mexico.
            
          

          

            
2008

            
              Changed Name to "RoboRAVE International"
            
          

          

            
2012

            
              First RoboRAVE Czech Republic
            
          

          

            
              Introduced "Big Kids"  Division
            
          

          

            
2013

            
              First RoboRAVE Colombia
            
          

          

            
2014

            
              First RoboRAVE China
            
            
              First RoboRAVE Mexico
            
          

          

            
              First "Robot Academy", Funded by Intel
            
          

          

            
2015

            
              First Two-Day Scoring Event
            
          

          
            

              Became New Mexico's Largest Robotics Competition
            
          

          

            
2016

            
              First RoboRAVE California
            
            
              First RoboRAVE Germany
            
          

          

            
2017

            
              First RoboRAVE US
            
          

          

            
              First "RoboRAVE International" held outside of New Mexico in Colombia