Harvard-Westlake 9th Grader Wins at World Robotics Championship

Cameron Schiller ‘18 recently competed and won at the VEX Robotics World Championship in Louisville, Kentucky.

In the VEX Robotics Competition, presented by the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation, teams of students are tasked with designing and building a robot to play against other teams from around the world in a game-based engineering challenge. Classroom STEM concepts are put to the test on the playing field as students learn lifelong skills in teamwork, leadership, communications, and more. Tournaments are held year-round at the regional, state, and national levels; local champions go on to compete against the best in the world at the VEX Robotics World Championship each April.

Cameron placed first in driver skills. In order to win in this category, his robot and its driving ability had to be the best in the competition. Over the course of the year, Cameron spent more than 1,200 hours designing, prototyping, and driving robot. This year’s challenge, “Skyrise,” requires robots to build towers up to six feet tall and then pick up cubes and place them on the tower.

Cameron competed by himself, not on a team, which is very rare in the Vex World Championship. Most teams consist of 10 to 30 kids that are supported by a high school.

Cameron says, “I am very passionate about doing robotics, and it is like a sport to me. I have competed in robotics for three years and am looking forward to continuing throughout high school and college. Next year, I hope to start a VEX team at the upper school and expose more kids to robotics.”

For more information on Vex Robotics competitions, click here.