West Virginia Robotics Alliance
The West Virginia Robotics Alliance is a coalition of educators, industry professionals, and volunteers dedicated to providing high-quality STEM competition opportunities to students across the Mountain State. The project is managed by the Education Resource Center (ERC) team at the NASA Katherine Johnson IV&V Facility in Fairmont, WV. The ERC is funded by a grant from NASA and managed by Fairmont State University.
WVRA supports over 30 robotics competitions throughout West Virginia each year, ranging from local qualifying events to state championships and national-level tournaments. Additionally, we offer robotics summer camps and provide training and workshops for robotics teams and coaches.
WVRA began in 2011 with a single event supporting approximately 60 teams. Since then, we have grown to support over 10 unique programs, dozens of events each year, and the number of robotics teams in West Virginia has grown over 850 percent. This represents one of the largest per-capita concentrations of robotics teams in any US state.
Our Programs
Our Sponsors
Our Community Partners
EMPOWERING YOUTH IN WEST VIRGINIA
Increased annual engagement from approximately 500 students to more than 6,000.
Established and fostered a statewide network of 15+ higher ed. and K-12 partners to hold regional tournaments, trainings, and summer camps.
Over 70% of surveyed team coaches reported that robotics participation improved students’ skills in leadership and communication.