A local robotics team is advancing to the VEX IQ World Championship in Dallas, Texas, after an impressive performance at the Maryland State Championship this weekend.
The team, 836A The Hive Mind, is from growingSTEMS, a community-based non-profit program located in Hollywood, MD, with the mission statement of developing the next generation of problem solvers and STEM leaders through robotics programs.
Six students from three different St. Mary’s County Public Schools, ages 10 to 13, have worked together for the last six months to build, code, and practice their strategy and driving skills. The team competed in the Maryland State Championship on February 22nd, 2025, in Hagerstown Maryland along with three other growingSTEMS teams.
The Hive Mind finished 4th in Skills and Autonomous Driving, earning them an invitation to the World Championship in May.
Brayden Auld, Ryan Auld, Jaxson Cooper, Abraham Luc, TJ Ward, and Kolten Wills will be the first team to represent growing STEMS at a VEX IQ World Championship, joining approximately 800 teams from across the world!
The Game: VEX IQ Robotics Competition Rapid Relay is played on a 6’ x 8’ rectangular field configured as seen above. Two robots compete in the Teamwork Challenge as an alliance in 60 second long teamwork matches, working collaboratively to score points.
Teams also compete in the Robot Skills Challenge where one robot takes the field to score as many points as possible. These matches consist of Driving Skills Matches, which will be entirely driver controlled, and Autonomous Coding Skills Matches, which will be autonomous with limited human interaction.
The Details: The scoring objects in VEX IQ Robotics Competition Rapid Relay are padded Balls, approximately 6″ in diameter.
The primary objectives of the game are to Pass the Balls between Robots, score Balls through Targets, and Clear Switches. Balls are introduced to the field through the Loading Station or, during the last 15 seconds of a Match, a Rapid Load Zone.
Points are awarded based on how many Goals are Scored, how many Switches have been Cleared, and how many times the Alliance successfully Passed the Ball before scoring it.
- More than 17,000 teams from 54 countries playing in over 1200 tournaments
- Local, regional, national, and world competitions
- Teamwork Challenge: Two teams working together to maximize their score
- Robot Skills Challenge: One robot playing alone against the clock
- STEM Research Project: Students use the scientific method to research and solve a challenge
