1,400 student-led teams from across the world will descend upon Louisville, KY for the largest international robotics competition - bringing STEM education to life

GREENVILLE, Texas, April 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation and VEX Robotics are proud to announce the 10th anniversary of the VEX Robotics World Championship. Taking place April 19-25, 2017 at the Kentucky Exposition Center, this week-long event will host the brightest minds from elementary school, middle school, high school and even university students for a massive competition that celebrates STEM education, collaboration, hard work and the dedication of these year-round student-led robotics teams.

Now in its 10th year, the VEX Robotics World Championship is the largest and fastest growing robotics program on earth. The annual championship consists of five individual programs that these student-led teams qualify for and compete in through a series of challenges catered to each program's age and skill level. World Champions will be crowned in the following five programs: the VEX IQ Challenge Elementary School World Championship, the VEX IQ Challenge Middle School World Championship, the VEX Robotics Competition Middle School World Championship, the VEX Robotics Competition High School World Championship, and the VEX U World Championship - the university-level program.

"The VEX Robotics World Championship is a true celebration of the hard work and dedication of these inspiring teams," said Jason Morrella, president of the REC Foundation. "Over the years we've had tremendous success with growing the global student STEM community, from helping solve the workforce development problems many industries face, impacting real change in society through our Girl Powered initiative, to receiving a Guinness World Record title for creating the largest, most inclusive robotics competition in the world. We're incredibly excited to host our 10th World Championship, and we're looking forward to finding new ways to engage educators and spark students' curiosity and life-long passion for STEM."

With 1,400 teams competing in this year's competition, the VEX Robotics World Championship will showcase leading talent from over 30 countries, including teams from Haiti, Spain, China, Canada, the United States and more.

"There is an incredibly powerful shift that you will see in students when it comes to their interest and understanding of STEM subjects, through their involvement in VEX Robotics," said Paul Copioli, president of VEX Robotics. "Not only are these students improving their STEM aptitude and developing computer science skills through programming, but through VEX Competitions, they are learning about different cultures and countries of origin, and they must find ways to problem solve and work together to achieve the greatest possible success. As a result, these students walk away having had a far richer, life-changing experience."

The event begins with the Middle and High School VEX Robotics Competition and VEX U World Championship events where middle school, high school and university teams compete in a series of back to back matches from April 19-22 in Louisville, KY. Opening ceremonies will occur on Thursday, April 20 and the event will conclude with the finals and 2017-2018 New Game Unveil on Saturday, April 22. Following the completion of these World Championship events, the opening ceremonies for the Elementary and Middle School VEX IQ Challenge World Championship events will commence on Monday, April 24 and will close with the finals and 2017-2018 New Game Unveil on Tuesday, April 25.

The VEX Robotics World Championship is presented by the REC Foundation and the Northrup Grumman Foundation, and is sponsored by Autodesk, Chevron, Dell EMC, NASA, Google, Texas Instruments, HEXBUG, Robomatter, Rack Solutions and Innovation First International. For more information, please visit RoboticsEducation.org/VEXworlds.

About the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation

The REC Foundation seeks to increase student interest and involvement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by engaging students in hands-on, sustainable and affordable curriculum-based robotics engineering programs across the U.S. and internationally. The REC Foundation develops partnerships with K-12 education, higher education, government, industry, and the non-profit community to achieve this work. For more information, please visit www.RoboticsEducation.org or for details on upcoming events, please visit www.RobotEvents.com.

About VEX Robotics

VEX Robotics is a leading provider of educational and competitive robotics products to schools, universities and robotics teams around the world. Their VEX IQ and VEX EDR product lines span elementary, middle, and high schools with accessible, scalable, and affordable robotics solutions. Beyond science and engineering principles, a VEX Robotics project encourages teamwork, leadership and problem solving among groups. It allows educators to easily customize projects to meet the level of students' abilities as they inspire & prepare the STEM problem-solvers of tomorrow.