Robolink has partnered with the REC Foundation—the folks behind some of the largest student-centered robotics competitions in the world—for their annual Aerial Drone Competition. It's an exciting and educational drone-sporting event full of piloting challenges and autonomous flight. You can build a team at your school and join a local event to compete for a chance to win at a regional championship event.
Put Your Drone Skills to the Test
Hands-On and Student-Centered
It's more than just a fun event! Team up with your classmates to create a team, and learn all about drone piloting, coding autonomous flight, team collaboration skills, and career opportunities in drones and engineering.
Get a Drone
Get a CoDrone EDU to participate
Get Field Elements
Get the field elements to set up practice and competition fields at your school, which are used every year
Visit REC Foundation to Register
Get all the info you need, and register for a local competition at REC Foundation
Get a Classroom Set
Get a set of 10 or more for your team or drone club
Get the Game Elements
Order your Game Elements for Mission 2025
Frequently Asked Questions
Questions are originally from REC Foundation's FAQ page
Are there teams/events in my area?
Aerial Drone Competition is a growing program at the REC Foundation, and we are expanding nationwide. We encourage you to check RobotEvents.com for the latest events. As this season gets underway, new teams and events will continue to be added. Please reach out to the program manager at drones@recf.org to discuss development in your area.
How many students are on a team?
We recommend 3-5 students per team. Each team needs one drone.
A school or organization can register multiple teams to accommodate student interest. Each school/organization registers a base number, such as 1234, and each team within that base number has a letter, such as 1234A, 1234B, etc. A base number can support up to 22 teams from a single organization.
How do I register a team and how much does it cost?
Visit RobotEvents.com to register. The cost is $175 per team for the 2024-2025 season.
A school or organization can register multiple teams to accommodate student interest. Each school/organization registers a base number, such as 1234, and each team within that base number has a letter, such as 1234A, 1234B, etc. A base number can support up to 22 teams from a single organization.
How much time do teams need to practice?
This can vary program to program based on resources and age of the students. A typical team will practice 2-4 hours per week after school.
What is a competition like?
Students participate in 4 missions at an Aerial Drone Competition:
1. Piloting Teamwork Mission: An exciting challenge presented in the form of a game that changes each year. Two teams form an alliance and work together. Teams fly around the field to score as many points as possible during a 90 second match.
2. Autonomous Flight Mission: One team competes against the clock to score as many points as possible in a 1-minute match. Students will program their drones to score points entirely autonomously.
3. Piloting Skills Mission: One team competes against the clock to score as many points as possible in a 1-minute match. Students will pilot their drones to score points.
4. Communication Mission: Students will showcase their workforce development skills through teamwork, critical thinking, project management, and communication skills that will assist in preparing them to become the next generation of innovators and problem solvers. Teams will be interviewed by judges and submit their Competition Logbook for evaluation.
Competitions typically take place on Saturdays and run from approximately 8am - 4pm.
Does the field and game change each year?
The competition elements (Arch Gates, Keyhole Gates, and Landing Pads) will be used from year to year. Each year we will reveal a new game that will include different game elements; therefore, new game elements will need to be purchased each year by the team/organization.
Which Robolink drones are approved for the Aerial Drone Competition?
For the 2024-2025 Season, there are 2 legal drones: CoDrone EDU and CoDrone EDU (JROTC edition).
Note: The JROTC edition was created to meet funding requirements for the JROTC programs. It’s the same drone as the CoDrone EDU, but with specific components sourced from different manufacturers to meet those requirements.