What Do Robotics Competitions Teach Children?
The value of robotics competitions goes well beyond winning awards. Children design, build, test, work as a team and improve their ideas towards a real goal.
Why Are Robotics Competitions Valuable?
When people think of robotics competitions, trophies and medals often come to mind first. But the real value of a competition is that it gives children a real goal, a clear deadline and a concrete problem to work on. A child preparing for a competition moves beyond "What are we doing today?". Suddenly there is a task to finish, a problem to solve and a goal the team is working towards together. That is why what matters most is not just the result, but the learning that happens on the way there.
Problem Solving and Engineering Thinking
Competition tasks usually involve problems children haven't met before. Along the way, children: - work to understand the problem - come up with different ideas - design and build a solution - test it - notice what isn't working - improve their design This is very close to how engineers work: Problem → Design → Build → Test → Improve By going round this loop again and again, children experience what it means to solve a problem step by step.
Teamwork and Responsibility
Most robotics competitions are done in teams, which gives children a real chance to experience working together. In a team, children: - share out the tasks - listen to their teammates - explain their own ideas - make decisions together - take responsibility for their part Every child's contribution counts. Whether they build the robot, write the code or prepare the presentation, everyone is part of the shared result.
Making Mistakes and Trying Again
Robots and code rarely work perfectly on the first try. The robot might head the wrong way, a sensor might give the wrong reading, or the team might run out of time. Preparing for a competition encourages children not to give up, but to: - work out what went wrong - revise the design or the code - test again - improve the solution In this approach, a mistake isn't a failure. It's a normal part of the engineering process, and each one holds a clue about how the solution could be better.
Presenting and Explaining Their Work
In many robotics competitions, children are asked to do more than run their robot. They often also need to: - explain their project - present their solution - answer questions - describe how the team worked together This helps children organise their thinking and practise explaining their work clearly to others.
Planning and Working Towards a Deadline
Competitions have a fixed date. Getting ready for it introduces children to: - deadlines - planning - breaking work into steps - seeing a project through to the end Splitting a big goal into small steps and trying to finish each one on time is a working habit that is useful well beyond competitions.
Are Competitions Only About Winning?
No. Winning should never be the only goal. The educational value of robotics competitions comes from what children do along the way: creating, testing, collaborating, presenting and improving their solutions. Even if a team doesn't win an award, the experience they gain while preparing stays with them. What matters is that children enjoy the process and learn something at every step.
The Code of Bricks Competition Experience
At Code of Bricks, competitions are treated as part of a longer learning and project-development journey. One of the best examples of that journey: the Code of Bricks 5-year-old team became World Champion at the 2025 Fibonacci International Robot Olympiad in Rome. That result didn't come from a single day. It came from a preparation process in which the design, build, test and improve cycle was repeated many times. You can find out more about our competition experience here:
Which Children Can Join a Competition Team?
Not every child needs to compete. Competitions are just one of the paths a child can take in their robotics journey. When we consider whether a child is ready for a competition team, we look at: - their age - their interest - their previous experience - whether they're ready to take part in a team process Children who are new to robotics coding can build their core skills first, and join competition work as their interest and experience grow. Explore the related programs and guides here:
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