“I had to write programs to make the robot go into a square with different commands like set mode or speed,” said Aaron Chea, 8, who competed in last year’s Vex IQ tournament.

VEX IQ is a robotics program designed for elementary and middle school students, where teams build and program robots to compete in a series of challenges.

15 Indiana schools with more than 54 teams met for one of the largest elementary robotics competitions. The VEX IQ program started seven years ago at Riverside Intermediate, where four students ...

Design and build their own robots Learn how to program them Work with others as a team Pick up leadership skills Kai and his family launched a GoFundMe to compete in VEX IQ, hoping to raise $3,000 ...

The curriculum is based on VEX IQ robots and is aimed at grades 4 through 8. Using the robots, educators can teach students robotics engineering concepts such as gear ratios, speed, and torque.