How Can Robotics Competitions Prepare Your Students For The Workforce

We’ve talked about robotics competitions on multiple occasions before. It is pretty clear how and why do they help our students gain and strengthen a number of 21st-century skills. It is also evident that robotics competitions and cyber robotics coding competitions are a very scalable, affordable and engaging way for your students to interact with STEM and learn the specific curricula you are delivering.

But, how are robotics competitions preparing the students of today for the workforce of tomorrow? Is FLL, WRO or CRCC doing something to train today’s students on the best ways to reach success in whatever field they decide for their lives? The answer is yes.

We want to show you how can robotics competitions prepare your students for the workforce of tomorrow, even if we don’t know exactly how that workforce will look like. Are you ready? Be prepared, because most likely you’ll start looking for a robotics competition for your students to join right after finishing this article.

Taking into consideration that our world has drastically changed in the last few decades, we should be thinking about new ways to nurture our students with content that is updated, relevant, useful and adaptable. In a way, robotics competitions fit these requirements and take them way beyond.

We want to show you 4 points in which robotics competitions are actually helping students get ready for the -unknown- workforce of tomorrow.

1. Be ready for unexpected changes

There is something we must know: We have no idea of how the workforce of the future is going to be like. We do know that robots will replace many humans in a number of workplaces and that automated processes will reduce the number of people in several positions. Anyhow, we don’t know exactly how this is going to affect us and hot exactly this future is going to be when it comes to structures or social organization.

Since we don’t know this, our students must be ready to face quick and unexpected changes. They should be like boy and girl scouts, always ready to use their toolset to face any issue that might appear. And how can they strengthen this skill? By participating in robotics competitions. It is in these competitions when teams are surprised with extra and unexpected gamified missions they need to solve in order to gain more -and very important- points.

Practicing this during events like CRCC will make them be prepared and ready for a future that, for now, seems uncertain and unknown.

Also, as you know very well, being prepared for a change of plans and always trying to find a solution instead of focusing on the problem it is also an amazing asset to offer when in the workforce.

2. Work in teams

Knowing how to work in teams is one of the most important abilities when successfully penetrating the workforce. Your students need to know how to share their ideas, how to work in teams, how to listen and how to lead in order to achieve big things in their professional lives.

But how can they work in their teamwork ability (applied to the workforce) and be sharp and neat at it? Well, participating in robotics competitions will definitely help. It is in these instances where they need to know each other, listen to multiple opinions and valorate multiple ways to solve one same issue to then pick the ultimate, most effective one.

Working in teams -as they do in robotics competitions- will also nurture your students with leadership skills… and those skills are highly appreciated in the workforce: today, and tomorrow too.

3. Understand your goal and come up with a number of solutions

Participating in robotics competitions will enable your students to comprehend how important is to come up with a number of solutions when solving one same problem. This, in the workforce, will allow them (as adults) to climb high in their organization’s hierarchies (even if they are horizontal) and lead a number of processes. Having their analytical and critical thinking abilities developed will enable the adults of tomorrow to make better decisions, understanding that they can walk through multiple paths to solve an issue… and many solutions might be correct.

But how can they work on this to succeed in the workforce of tomorrow? Indeed! Participating in robotics competitions. It is there where students will understand the importance of setting goals and objectives and will see with their own eyes that each problem has -indeed- multiple potential solutions. Can you imagine how well they will perform at their future jobs if they apply this? Amazing, isn’t?

4. Be passionate!

The main secret to succeeding in life is to love what you do. To work, in whatever you want to work, from the bottom of your heart and being passionate about the things you do. In robotics competitions, your kids and students will show how passionate they are about their projects and ideas… mainly, because they created them.

Give your students the chance to experience STEM and robotics with passion and love for both the class content and for the projects they are creating themselves. This is a very, very valuable skill for all candidates in the workforce of today, and most likely it will remain this way in the world of tomorrow.

Want to begin exploring all the possibilities a robotics competition can offer to your kids? Take a look at these amazing testimonials from the CRCC (Cyber Robotics Coding Competition), and if you’d like to bring this engaging, fun, and meaningful event to your school, district, or state talk to us. We’d love to explain to you how does it work, and the wonderful things your students and your school could get from it.

May the code be with you!