Great Lakes Science Center is thrilled to host this year’s Curiosity Open: Robotics Challenge! The Curiosity Open is an annual, off-season robotics tournament that features some of the best high school robotics teams from Ohio, Southeastern Michigan, and Western Pennsylvania.
During this 2025 season, FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC) teams from across the city and from around the Great Lakes region successfully competed at several major events throughout the U.S. and Canada, with many advancing to compete at the FIRST® World Championship this past April! On Saturday, September 27, the Science Center will welcome up to 32 of these top-performing FRC teams and their fans to Cleveland to participate in this exciting, off-season, invitational event. The Science Center's special exhibition hall will be transformed into a robot battleground where teams of students, working in three-team alliances, will go head-to-head, tournament style, to see whose robots are the best designed and constructed!
GAME ANIMATION
In REEFSCAPESM presented by Haas, FIRST® Robotics Competition teams will use their engineering skills to strengthen one of the ocean's most diverse habitats, making waves to build a better world. Get ready to make a SPLASH!
Watch the game animation or read the Game Overview below to learn more about this season's game.
GAME OVERVIEW
In REEFSCAPESM two competing alliances are invited to score coral, harvest algae, and attach to the barge before time runs out. Alliances earn additional rewards for meeting specific scoring thresholds and for cooperating with their opponents.
During the first 15 seconds of the match, robots are autonomous. Without guidance from their drivers, robots leave their starting zone, score coral on the reef, harvest algae from the reef, and collect and score additional coral.
During the remaining 2 minutes and 15 seconds, drivers control their robots. Robots collect coral from human players at their coral stations and score them on the reef. To unlock all scoring locations on the reef, robots must dislodge algae from the reef and either score it in the barge or deliver it to the human player through the processor.
A human player can then deliver the algae to the barge. If at least two algae are scored in the processor by each alliance, both alliances earn a Coopertition Bonus Point (which influences their rank in the tournament), lowering the requirements for a ranking point.
As time runs out, robots prepare to return to the surface with their algae by grabbing onto their cages and parking under the barge. The alliance that earns the most points wins the match!
ABOUT FIRST
The FIRST® Robotics Competition is an exciting, international competition that challenges teams, professionals, and young people to solve an engineering design problem in an intense and competitive way that is unlike any other event. No yearly challenge is the same!
FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) was founded in 1989 by inventor Dean Kamen to inspire an appreciation of science and technology in young people. Based in Manchester, N.H., FIRST® designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating students to pursue future STEM careers. FIRST® provides the FIRST® Robotics Competition for high school students, FIRST® Tech Challenge for grades 7-12, and FIRST® LEGO League, which is subdivided into three separate divisions for Pre-K through grade 8.
For more information, visit www.firstinspires.org
Information For Competiting Teams
Special Note: Registration for this year’s event is on a first-come, first-served basis. Once 24 robots have been registered for this event, additional teams trying to register robots will be waitlisted.
Registration fee: $250 per team for the first robot ($150 for each additional robot). Competitors needing to provide payment using a purchase order or check must call 216-621-2400 to register.
Interested in volunteering for the 2025 Curiosity Open?
