compareCompetitions.xlsx


1		Robocup	F.I.R.S.T / F.T.C.	VEX Robotics	W.R.O.
2	Disclaimer: This article was written in 2022 with our best knowledge via online reading and experience. To get the most latest information, you need to visit the individual organizer website given in the 2nd row of the following table.
3	General Overview
4	History	1997 : Robocup (College & Research Level) 2000 : RobocupJunior (Grade School Level)	1992. For Gr. 2 to 12	2007	2004
5	Organizer	Robocup Federation - www.robocup.org junior.robocup.org	FIRST \| For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and TechNology FRC/FTC: www.firstinspires.org FLL: www.firstinspires.org/robotics/fll	Robotics Education and Competition Foundation - www.vexrobotics.com	World Robot Olympiad Committee - wro-association.org
6	Cost ot participate in local event	Low-cost and affordable competition. Field is 100% or mostly reusable year after year with affordable modification.	VERY HIGH. About 10K every year, but with 50K+ for the first year. High cost due to investment in new arena, and proprietory mechanical requirement.	similar to FIRST.	Higher, but less expensive than FIRST game.
7	team size	all pre-college teams : 2 to 4 members. For College: Various, but still a lot smaller than others in this doc.	JrFLL (Gr.2-3) - 2 to 6 FLL (Gr. 5-7) - 2 to 10 FTC (Gr. 7-12) - 2 to 15 FRC (Gr. 9-12) - 6 to 100 But the rest of this doc will focus just on FTC and FRC.	Similar to FTC.	Majority : 2 to 4
8	Structure of a team	All team members delve into technical roles. 1-2 : focus on the electronic and mechanical development. 1-2 : focus on the software algorithms development.	FTC: - about 4-6 focus on technical roles. Others usually are newer members to learn from the experienced ones. FRC - about 2-4 focus on mechanical aspect, while 1 on programming. All others will be in other non-technical roles.	Similar to FTC	similar in between VEX and RCJ.
9	Members' bulk of work	All need to heavily focus on technical aspect and engineeirng practice. More closer to Mechatronic with Software developmen.t Most leagues required pretty intense software algorithmic development. Various league requires various focus.	FTC: - comparable with VEX - see VEX next coumn. FRC - Somewhat simulating how a corporation work - from marketing, fundraising (very important aspect). A more well-established teams have trainers vs trainees. Usually only 4-6 members focus on the technical devleopment, while majority of the team focus on other aspects.	Similar to FTC. Focus more balance between software and mechanical design.	More in between VEX and RCJ. Since team size is a lot smaller than VEX's typical team. Technical work is more spread out among team mates.
10	Leagues
11	Grades/ Leagues	Junior Leagues: pre-college (age 10+) ** will have Entry level sub-leagues in Regional competition. Major Leagues: College and Research Level .	JrFLL - Gr. K to 4 FLL - Gr. 4 to 8 FTC - Gr. 7-12 FRC - Gr. 9-12	VEX IQ - Gr. 4 to 8. VEX EDR - Gr. 7 to 12. VEX U - College level	Beginner - 6 to 10 Elementary - up to 12. Junior - 13 to 15 Senior - 16 to 19 FootBall - 10 to 19 Advanced level:
12	Subleagues	Soccer - Light and Heavy weight Rescue Leagues Robot On-Stage Both Soccer and Rescue will have Entry level subleague soon.	None	None	None
13	Simulation Subleague	YES	NO	NO	NO
14	Popularity in USA	Low. But highly esteemed in Europe, South East Asia, Australia, and Baltic States.	High	High	Low
15	Local	Locals: 1 day event Super-Regional: 4 days. World: 4 days with 5th day as Technical Symposium Day.	locals: 1 day event world event: 3 days	unclear..	unkNown.
16	World Event	Any country	Has always been in USA : - Houston, TX - Detroit, MI	Dallas, TX - most likely will always be US based	Any country.
17	Events Levels	National (age 10+, up to 12th grade). Super-Regional Competiitons ( by Continental divisions) (age 10+, up to 12th grade). World competitions (Age 14 to Grad school Research).	Local -> regional -> national World competitions. (All for Elementary school to High School)	Similar to FTC	Regional -> National World competitions. (All for Elementary school to High School)
18	World size	over 400+ teams from about 50 nations. (including all leagues minus primary sub-leagues)	approx. 600 teams from about 30 nations (including all leagues)	over 1000 teams from 30+ nations. (including all leagues)	Catching up like RoboCup
19	Cost Aspect	Pay for the trip to the international	Pay for One season hardware and field equipment - can easily cost from 10K to 50K.	slightly lower than FTC	Pay for the trip to the international
20	Season	National: Early Spring. World : Early Summer.	Regionals vary from October through April. World event: last week of April	Regionals : year-round World : Usually in April	Late Fall
21	The Game Itself
22	Attainable	Non-entry level - Very challenging. Less attainable by Novice. Will start Entry level which will still reasonable programming experience.	JrFLL and FLL (for elementary school) very attainable by Novice. FTC and FRC (high school level) welcome all Novice level.	similar to FIRST.	Can be very challenging, but much more attainable by Novice in simpler level.
23	Time limit	varies from 2 to 15 minutes. Completely Autonomy mode.	Total 2.5 minutes. - 15 seconds for Autonomy mode. - 2 min + 15 sec for Teleop mode (i.e. Human control)	Total 2 minutes. - 45 seconds for Autonomy mode. (only for EDR and VEX U) - 1 min + 15 sec for Teleop mode (i.e. Human control)	unclear.
24	Theme	Not large change from year to year. Teams are expected to continue much enhancement.	Large change from year to year. Need a lot of time to rebuild from scratch.	similar to FIRST.	Large change every N years
25	Tech. Symposim	Soccer - Light and Heavy weight Rescue Leagues Robot On-Stage	No	No	No
26	Secret challenge	Yes in world event	No	No	No
27	Independent Project	Yes under OnStage League	No	No	Yes for the High School level
28	Atmosphere	very Subdue. Mentors are Not allowed to communicate with team members during competition.	Sport like. Mentors,and teams are closely working together during competition	Like FTC	unkNown.
29	Most challenging aspects	Excellent Software development skills. Computer Vision kNowledge is a MUST in most HS leagues. Reasonably well performed mechanical and electronic in order to perform somewhat decently.	Excellent Mechanical Building Skillls. Since the majority of the competition is driver controlled, the most successful teams have to put just as much time into driver practice as they do the robot build.	similar to FTC	a large variety


1		Robocup	F.I.R.S.T	VEX Robotics	W.R.O.
2	Disclaimer: This article was written in 2022 with our best knowledge via online reading and experience. To get the most latest information, you need to visit the individual organizer website given in the 2nd row of the following table.
3	Mechanical / Electronic Development
4	Controller?	Up to each team.	Must be a standard kit Must use a single proprietary Hardware/Software platform	Must be from VEX	2 Categories - Must be LEGO 2 Categories - at team's choice
5	Mechanical	Can use any hardware. Continuous improvement in the mechanical requirement from year to year.	much higher investment in building materials due to big yearly regulatory changes.	Must be from VEX	2 categories - must be LEGO but with various progamming languages 2 categories - similar to RCJ
6	Electronic	Can be heavily in Electronic. Enhancement is required from one year to next.	Not so much.	No. Plug and Play Vex components only.	2 categories (LEGO) - None 2 categories - up to the team.
7	Strength	Since there is not a large regulatory change yearly, teams can continue enhancing their earlier design.	Since large regulatory changes, a lot of effort must be spent on rebuilding the robot; especially in FRC. Great for those interested in Mechanical .	similar to FIRST.	A large variety to choose. More attainable for Novice. Also allow teams to delve deeper into strong progamming skill.
8	Robot Size	RCJ: smaller than approx. 25cm x 25cm x 25cm. College Leagues: Any size up to Humanoid	FRC: About 4' x 4' x 4+'H Others: smaller then 1'x 1'x 1'	similar to FIRST.	2 categories (LEGO) - small 2 categories - up to the teams
9	Automation	100% autonomy. Emphasize on algorithms improvement in AI development. Requires excellent programming skill.	Mainly Tele-op (remote control). Provide clear sample to follow in order to encourage students to run the robot in the few seconds of Auto mode.	Similar to FRC. While VEX allows to run either tele-op or auto mode, large majority runs in tele-op.	2 categories (LEGO) - full autonomy 2 categories - up to the teams
10	Field appearance	Not colorful	Appealing..	Appealing..	depends on the game. But mostly colorful.
11		Dynamic Field Completely based on robot's self- awareness.	Static Field. For the lower level - Mostly based on dead-reckoning method.	similar to FIRST.	2 categories (LEGO) - static field with a few variation for upper grades 2 categories - up to the teams
12	Game Theme	Small Regulatory changes every year.	Large Regulatory changes every year	similar to FIRST.	LEGO categories - Similar year to year but with field items randomly placed (somewhat similar to RCJ in that aspect)


1		Robocup	F.I.R.S.T	VEX Robotics	W.R.O.
2	Disclaimer: This article was written in 2022 with our best knowledge via online reading and experience. To get the most latest information, you need to visit the individual organizer website given in the 2nd row of the following table.
3	Software Development
4
5	Unique feature	All: 100% autonomy is required. "Heavily" in software algorithms toward AI development. Electronic design can be very demanding especially in Soccer.	JrFLL and FLL: Require research work. FTC and FRC: "Heavily" in mechanical design and teleop. Minimal autonomy.	similar to FIRST.	2 Categories - Field Competition (with LEGO and full autonomy) 2 Categories - Engineering projects (majority with full autonomy)
6		Due to the variation of the leagues, students in different leagues delve into a larger variety techniques.	Typically, teams are provided a template software to get started. This will allow to run the robot right out the box. Thus, this allows novice software programmer to able to participate in the competition.	--	--
7	Strength	Allow teams to delve deeper into AI development.	Since large regulatory changes, a lot of effort must be spent on rebuilding the robot; especially in FRC. Great for those interested in Mechanical .	similar to FIRST.	A large variety to choose. More attainable for Novice. Also allow teams to delve deeper into strong progamming skill.
8	Software Skills (to enable self-awareness)	HIGHLY demanding. 100% Self-awareness throughout the duration of a game.	FLL: Once knowing how to perform deadreckoning with encoder, the growth is limited in programming area. FTC/FRC : Majority the game is with human remote control. Teams are given sample program to get started in order to perform through the 15 seconds of automation duration. Thus, self-awareness is minimum.	Similar to FTC. automation duration only lasts 45 seconds. The rest of the game human remote control. Thus, self-awareness is minimum.	Limited to LEGO platform, but allowing various programming software - this allows more room to enhance programming skills. Some leagues require higher programming skill, such as the Advanced Vision Centric game.
9	Programming platform	at teams' choice.	JrFLL and FLL: LEGO proprietory blockly FTC/FRC : Java	Proprietory C/C++. Team is not allowed to use any other compiler/IDE.	The LEGO platform (majority of them from middle to high school): can choose any software. The High School Innovative independent work - any platform at team's choice.


1
2	Also see our Criteria table
3
4	Storming Robots chooses Robocup Junior
5	Why?	Storming Robots focuses in computational thinking and learning in computing algorithms required in artificial intelligence realm. In order to maximize the learning in algorithmic software development, and automation in robotics, as well as exploration of various platform, the RobocupJunior (RCJ) stands out as one of the best choices. While RCJ does Not win the popularity among grade schools in USA, it stands out to be apart from most other games in the states. Robot Challenge itself involves dynamic changes in variables under their running environment. Besides, there is No restriction on a hardware or software manufacturer. RCJ sits at the pre-college level of the RoboCup global initiative. RoboCup is a International reNowned A.I intensive game. It stresses the learning in automation gearing towards artificial intelligence. RCJ delves deeply into computer science and algorithmic programming. At the International Tournament, besides competing against top teams from across the globe, they will have the opportunity to interface with hundreds of research scientists and engineers from around the Int'l, and watch their amazing robotics apparatus in action.