Robotics Programs & Competitions for High School Students

Robotics is one of the strongest ways to show colleges hands-on engineering ability: you design, build, program, and compete with a physical machine on a deadline.

This list spans team competitions like FIRST Robotics and VEX, summer robotics intensives, and research programs where you work on autonomous systems.

47 verified programs match this page; 17 of the featured listings are completely free; 1 can be done online.

Featured programs

Browse 30+ curated programs for high school students:

• World Artificial Intelligence Competition for Youth (WAICY) — Ready AI: Join a global AI competition for grades 6-12 to solve real-world problems using artificial intelligence. Build STEM skills, boost college applications
• Penn State Science-U STEM Camps — Penn State University: Immersive residential STEM camps at Penn State for middle and high school students covering robotics, cybersecurity, engineering, and life sciences on
• VEX Robotics World Championship — REC Foundation: Largest robotics competition by participants. Teams build VEX robots to compete.
• BEST Robotics Competition — BEST Robotics: Free robotics competition. Six-week design challenge.
• MIT Beaver Works Summer Institute (BWSI) — MIT Lincoln Laboratory & MIT School of Engineering: Rigorous 4-week STEM program. Students work on real engineering challenges in robotics, AI, cybersecurity. Free for selected students.
• U.S. Naval Academy Summer STEM Program — United States Naval Academy: Hands-on engineering and design camp on the USNA campus for grades 9-11.
• MIT Robocon Tech Team Robotics Competition — Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Robocon Tech Team: A student-led MIT team that designs and builds robots for international ABU Robocon competitions.
• European Rover Challenge Robotics Competition — European Space Foundation: An international Mars rover competition and space science event bringing student teams together to design and operate planetary rovers.
• E-Yantra Robotics Competition — IIT Bombay (e-Yantra Project, CSE Dept.): A major educational robotics competition by IIT Bombay that teaches embedded systems and robotics through themed challenges.
• NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge — NASA Marshall Space Flight Center: An annual NASA engineering competition where student teams design, build, and race human-powered rovers over simulated extraterrestrial terrain.
• MATE ROV Competition (High School Division) — MATE Inspiration for Innovation: Compete in the MATE ROV underwater robotics competition for high schoolers. Gain hands-on STEM skills, tackle real-world ocean challenges, and boost c
• NYU ARISE Summer Research Program — NYU Tandon School of Engineering: Gain hands-on STEM experience in a free 7-week summer research program for high school juniors and seniors. Build skills for college and explore engin
• Engineering Summer Academy at Penn (ESAP) — University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science: Explore cutting-edge STEM fields in this in-person summer program for high schoolers. Gain hands-on engineering experience, boost college applications
• BlueStamp Engineering — BlueStamp Engineering: Build hands-on engineering projects in this hybrid summer program for high schoolers. Perfect for developing STEM skills, creating a portfolio, and bo
• IEEE TryEngineering Summer Institute — IEEE: IEEE's residential pre-college engineering camp for high school students at nine US campuses in 2026 (Rice, Columbia, Penn, UCLA, and more): hands-on
• Aerial Drone Competition — Robotics Education & Competition Foundation: Team drone competition from the REC Foundation for middle and high school students: piloting, autonomous flight programming, teamwork matches, and jud
• FIRST Robotics Competition — FIRST: The flagship high-school robotics league: student teams design, build, and program 120-pound robots in a six-week season, then compete at district, re
• Seminar for Top Engineering Prospects (STEP) — Purdue University College of Engineering: Purdue Engineering's week-long residential seminar for rising seniors: hands-on design, programming, and robotics projects with honors-student mentors
• FIRST Robotics Competition Chairman's Award — FIRST: Most prestigious FRC team award. Recognizes team that best embodies FIRST mission.
• Zero Robotics Programming Competition — MIT/NASA: Program robots that compete aboard the International Space Station. Finals run on actual SPHERES satellites in microgravity on ISS.
• Autonomous Vehicle Challenge (SAE International) — SAE International: Competition to design and build autonomous vehicles. Tests AI, robotics, and engineering skills. Demonstrates cutting-edge STEM capabilities.
• FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) World Championship Qualifier — FIRST: 3,600+ teams. Build 120lb robot. World Championship is most prestigious robotics event.
• National Robotics League (Combat Robotics) — NRL: Build 15-pound combat robots and compete in arena battles. Engineering design meets competition excitement.
• SAE Autonomous Vehicle Challenge — SAE International: Design and build autonomous vehicles. Cutting-edge experience with AI, machine learning, and robotics in transportation.
• FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Dean's List Finalist — FIRST: Top individual student award in FRC. 10 winners selected from ~300 semi-finalists.
• VEX Robotics World Championship Excellence Award — REC Foundation: Excellence Award is the highest honor at VEX Worlds. Given to teams that exemplify overall excellence in building a quality robotics program.
• NASA Lunabotics Competition — NASA: University-level robotics competition to design, build, and operate lunar regolith mining robots for simulated Moon environments.
• World Humanoid Robot Games Competition — World Humanoid Robot Association: International humanoid robotics competition featuring soccer, combat, dance, and autonomous challenges for students and hobbyists.
• Robotica Robotics Competition for Students — FIRST Robotics Competition Team 203 (Camden County College): Robotica is a high school team-based robotics competition hosted at Camden County College, featuring robot contests and engineering challenges.
• Robofest Robotics Competition — Lawrence Technological University: Robofest is an autonomous robotics competition for 4th–12th grade students organized by Lawrence Technological University.

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