VEX Robotics in Schools

Digital Circus is a new initiative aimed at increasing access to computer science and robotics opportunities for Hawke’s Bay children. Founded by a group of passionate teachers, Digital Circus’s mission is to see Hawkes Bay host a regional VEX IQ robotics competition.

VEX IQ is a robotics platform designed to transform STEM learning for young students and their teachers. VEX runs worldwide competitions, with over 10,000 student teams participating annually. New Zealand performs strongly in this competition, with Auckland and Palmerston North fielding strong teams at the New Zealand National competition every year. In fact, New Zealand went on to win the World title in 2016 at the world championship competition held in the USA.

For the first time, Hawke’s Bay sent a team to the 2015/16 National Competition held in Auckland. Unfortunately, the nearest qualifying regional competitions are based in Palmerston North, increasing the time and cost of participation for Hawke’s Bay students. This is why it is so important for Hawke’s Bay to run their own regional competitions.

Our lead teacher in this venture is a Hawke’s Bay computer science teacher. He is the driving force behind this initiative, with the aim to see Hawkes Bay students perform to the same standard as Auckland and Palmerston North students. In order to achieve this goal, we need to greatly increase the numbers of children in Hawkes Bay participating in the VEX IQ robotics program.

The aim of inspiring our local students to become involved in robotics and computer science is no small task. To help us achieve this goal, we are appealing to every technology and education enthusiast in Hawke’s Bay to help us get the VEX Robotics kits into our local schools. Each Robot start-up kit is valued at $500 and this project aims to involve 20 primary schools to kick start this project in 2017.