Every year, thousands of students across India gear up to showcase their creativity, problem-solving, and engineering talent through robotics competitions. These events aren’t just about building robots—they are about teamwork, innovation, and global exposure.
For the 2025 season, three major competitions—VEX VIQRC, Avishkaar IRC League, and Blixathon—are set to inspire young minds. And at The STEM Makers, near D V Manor in Vijayawada, students are already preparing with hands-on training, mentorship, and structured practice.
This article gives you a quick overview of each competition and how students can gear up to participate.
🔹 VEX VIQRC 2025 Season – Mix and Match
- What it is: VIQRC is a global robotics competition where students design, build, and program robots to complete missions in a team-based challenge.
| Competition | Category | Age group | Regionals | Nationals | Internationals |
| VIQRC | Elementary | 4th, 5th Class | Nov 22nd 2025, Bangalore | 17 – 18th Jan 2026, Mumbai / Delhi | April / May 2026. Dallas / St. Louis, USA |
| Middle School | 6th – 8th Class |
- Season 2025 game : In Mix and Match, two teams collaborate to score points by building stacks of game objects, which are Pins and Beams, and then placing those stacks in Goals to increase their value. The game involves strategic stacking of different colour pins, colour matching to goals, and efficient use of human loaders to introduce additional pins all in a minute with robots the students have built
- Age Group: Middle and high school students (Grades 4–8).
- Format: Teams of 2–6 students design, build robots using VEX IQ kits and program/drive them to race against time, to maximise their score according to strategy developed for the season game. Each season has a new challenge theme as a Game(e.g., stacking, transporting, or navigating arenas).
- Alliance match : Along with one more team, maximise the score which is given to both the teams. Driver controlled.
- Robot Skills Challenge : Drivers take turn to control the robot and maximise the score racing against time.
- Autonomous Skills Challenge : Program the Robot to play the game, maximise the score racing against time.
- Why it matters: Winners qualify for the VEX Robotics World Championship in the US, offering students international exposure and recognition and an edge to their college applications.
- At The STEM Makers: Students are trained in robot design, coding (block & text-based), driver skills, notebooking, strategy planning and facing interviews, with mock competitions to build confidence.
🔹 Avishkaar League 2025 : Code of Duty
- What it is: Avishkaar League is Asia’s Biggest Robotics and Coding League that aims to celebrate Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and make innovation an area of passion for the young minds of the developing world.
| Event | Competition | Category | Age group | Regionals | Nationals | Internationals |
| Avishkaar League 2025 | IRC League | Junior | 3rd – 5th Class | Hyderabad – TBD | Delhi – TBD | TBD |
| Middle | 6th – 8th Class | |||||
| Senior | 9th – 12th Class | |||||
| Makeathon | Junior | Upto Grade 5 | Round 1 – Online | Round 2 – International Finale | ||
| Middle | Upto Grade 8 | |||||
| Senior | Upto Grade 12 | |||||
| Game League | Junior | Upto Grade 5 | Round 1 – Online | Round 2 – International Finale | ||
| Middle | Upto Grade 8 | |||||
| Senior | Upto Grade 12 | |||||
- Season 2025 game : In Avishkaar IRC League Code of Duty, two robots have to race against time to accomplish the category wise task and thereby maximize their score as follows, using coordinated action amongst the two robots.
- Junior Level: Saviour(Manual) robot equipped with a gripper mechanism, collects Aid dumpers from the relief depot and delivers them to three different Command Posts. Warrior(programmable) robot collects aid dumpers from the command post and delivers them to the border zone.
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- Middle Level: T-72 Ajeya (Programmable Robot) has to extract the resources from all four Severance Nodes one by one and store them in all four Base Camps one at a time. TAC-V (manual robot) must harvest resources from all four base camps and deliver them to the Correct Outposts completing the structure order for the outpost activation.
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- Senior Level: Senapati (Commander/autonomous robot) must retrieve 6 weapon modules from the hideouts and deliver them to a secure Transfer Zone. Rakshak(Defender/manual robot) must manually pick up the weapon modules from the Transfer Zone and install them into Yantra Rig in the correct sequence to activate the defense system.
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Other competitions as part of Avishkaar League 2025 are Avishkaar Makeathon and Avishkaar Game League, details of which are in the link. Further queries about the same, let’s sit across the table to discuss the same.
- Age Group: Students from 3rd to 12th Class.
- Format: : Teams of 1- 4 students design, build robots using Avishkaar kits and program/drive them to race against time, to maximise their score according to strategy developed for the season game. Each season has a new challenge theme as a Game( Code of Duty, Rise of the Machines etc. )
- Why it matters: Builds innovation, entrepreneurship, and STEM awareness. Strong IRC portfolios strengthen college applications in India and abroad.
- At The STEM Makers: Students practice with Avishkaar kits and real time arenas, guided to develop both technical builds and presentation skills for judges.
🔹 Blix-a-thon 2025
- What it is: A creative robotics hackathon where students from Elementary level to College can experience STEM Learning as an exciting hands on adventure.
| Event | Competition | Category | Age group | Date & Venue | Registration deadline |
| BLIX-A-THON 2025 | Robo Sprint | Junior | 8 – 14 years | 22nd – 24th December 2025
IIT Bombay |
10 th November 2025 |
| Ultimate Maze | Above 8 years | ||||
| Robo Precision | Senior | 14 – 22 years | |||
| Coding Quest | Above 15 years |
- Season 2025 game : Blixathon 3rd edition has different problem statements catering to different age groups and aptitudes. The games are designed to challenge students to “Engineer bots for real world tasks” or “Code with logic, strategy and flair” The different problem statements in Blixathon 3rd edition are:
- Robo-Sprint(Junior Category): In Robo-Sprint challenge, participants need to pass as many balls into the opponents area of the arena within 3 minutes and the team having fewest balls within their court at the end will win the round.
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- The Ultimate Maze(Junior Category): In the Ultimate Maze challenge, participants must design a maze where the marble takes the longest time to reach the end — the slowest marble wins.
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- Robo-Precision(Senior Category): In the Robo- Precision challenge, participants need to build the tallest tower by stacking cups on the specified area, within 5 minutes.
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- Coding Quest(Senior Category): In the Coding Quest challenge, participants have to pre-program their robot to collect cubes from designated colored zones and deliver them to their matching colored zones within the allotted time.
- Age Group: 8 and above
- Format: Each team builds projects around fun, theme-based challenges, often integrating simple motors, gears, and coding, to execute a task and maximize score within specified time.
- Why it matters: An excellent entry point for students new to robotics—encourages creativity and sparks long-term interest in STEM. Venue being IIT Bombay is an opportunity for students to get exposed to cutting edge Science and Technology stuff.
- At The STEM Makers: Students are trained in foundational robotics concepts using Blix material, where they learn assembly, experimentation, and teamwork, which is used by the students to design their robots under expert mentorship and test on Real time arenas.
Why Compete?
Robotics competitions offer benefits far beyond the trophies:
- 🚀 Global Exposure – Competing against peers worldwide.
- 🤝 Teamwork & Leadership – Learning to lead and collaborate.
- 🧩 Problem-Solving Skills – Applying classroom math, physics, and logic to real challenges.
- 🎓 Admissions Advantage – Participation strengthens applications to top universities in the US, Europe, and Australia.
The STEM Makers Advantage (Vijayawada)
Located near D V Manor, The STEM Makers is a dedicated hub for hands-on STEM learning. Here’s how we prepare students for the 2025 season:
- Structured Training Programs for VEX IQ, Avishkaar Robotics, and Blixathon.
- Mock Competitions to simulate the real experience.
- Mentorship from experienced facilitators.
- Portfolio Support to document projects for college applications.
At The STEM Makers, we are building teams for these Robotics Competitions. Limited seats available.
Conclusion
The 2025 robotics competition season is packed with opportunities for young innovators. Whether it’s the global stage of VIQRC, the national spotlight of IRC League, or the creativity-driven Blixathon, where students develop skills that last a lifetime.
At The STEM Makers in Vijayawada, we help students not just build robots—but engineer their future.
✨ Ready to compete? Training is now open for the 2025 season at The STEM Makers.