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Level Up｜From "Transport Game" to the Era of Systems Strategy

  • 16 hours ago
  • 2 min read

Compared to what many people imagine as a "beginner robotics competition," this year's VEX IQ challenge has real strategic depth. The Level Up field is 6×8 feet, where two robots — one from each alliance — work together to complete the Teamwork Challenge. This year's scoring objects are Bean Bags, and robots must continuously deliver Bean Bags of each color into their corresponding colored Goals to score points.


Here's how scoring breaks down:


🔹 Floor Goal

1 point per Bean Bag


🔹 Pyramid Goal

Level 1 = 3 points

Level 2 = 6 points

Level 3 = 12 points


And at the center of the field, two special goals:


🔹 Level 4 Elevated Goal

Standing 24 inches tall

Accepts yellow Bean Bags only

16 points each


‼️ Robots don't just need to score — they need to decide: which points are worth going for, and which routes are most efficient.


One of the biggest strategic elements this year is path planning. Two 8-inch Fences run across the center of the field, forcing most robots to take the long way around when transporting Bean Bags. But if a robot is built low enough to pass underneath the fence, it can cut through — saving significant time.


So the real design question becomes: build a faster, larger robot, or build a compact one that can take the shortcut?


This gets surprisingly close to the kinds of decisions made in real-world robotics system design:


✅ Space constraints

✅ Efficiency optimization

✅ Structural trade-offs

✅ Task path planning


Taken as a whole, Level Up is far from a simple "pick and deliver" game. That's exactly why, after reviewing the rules, our coaches unanimously agreed: this year's IQ season is one of the best we've seen for developing genuine engineering thinking and mission execution skills.


 
 
 

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