Students Competitions Robot Compete Robotic Create Engineering Challenge

American "policymakers" (legislators; people who create laws) and educators want to increase students' interest in "STEM" (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) "fields" (topics; areas). One way of doing that is to create competitions for students to gain "real-world experience" (experience actually doing something, not just reading and learning about it) in related industries, such as robotics.

One of the best-known robotic competitions for students is the FIRST Tech Challenge, organized by a nonprofit organization called FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). In the Challenge, students in grades 7-12 (approximately 12-18 years old) design, build, and "program" (provide instructions for a computer) their robot to compete against other teams using engineering "principles" (guiding facts and theories). Students not only develop their engineering and programming skills, but also improve their "teamwork skills "(ability to work with others as part of a team) as they compete for a "spot" (an opening; a vacancy) in the World Championship. Winners receive college "scholarships" (money that can be used to pay for a college education).

BEST (Boosting Engineering, Sciencem and Technology) Robotics is another competition that targets middle school and high school students who might be interested in "seeking" (looking for; trying to get) a "career" (job) in engineering. Teams of students are given certain "parts" (pieces) that they can use to build their robot and a "finite" (limited) list of other parts that they may use. They have six weeks to build the robot that can compete in a game task. They also must make a written report about their experience designing, building, and programming the robot.