Sphero Global Challenge

Join the ultimate STEM competition for its 4th season! The Sphero Global Challenge is designed to inspire creativity, innovation, and teamwork in your students. With Events for PK–8th grade students of all ability levels, this undercover adventure will challenge your learners to crack complex problems and work together as a team to achieve success.

Sphero Global Challenge Season 3 Logo.

Sphero Goes Incognito

The theme for Season 4 is Sphero Goes Incognito and we will have three thrilling events to choose from to allow kids and teens to go deeper with computational thinking, engineering, and programming skills.

Undercover indi

Sphero indi global challenge.

SKILLS

Students will explore computational thinking skills by designing a route for indi, constructing a secret message, and disguising indi to demonstrate their understanding.

  • Problem Solving
  • Algorithmic Thinking
  • Basic Coding Concepts
  • Pattern Recognition

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

Spies Like BOLT

Sphero indi global challenge.

SKILLS

Students will use BOLT robots and Blueprint to recreate spy missions for mission objectives—all while learning different programming skills including:

  • Loops
  • Conditionals
  • Variables
  • Functions

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

RVR+ Spies on the Move

Sphero indi global challenge.

SKILLS

Students will turn RVR+ into a spy vehicle. Combined with Blueprint, students will use their sidekick spy vehicle to complete mission objectives and demonstrate their programming skills including:

  • Loops
  • Conditionals
  • Variables
  • Functions

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

  • 1 Sphero RVR+ or RVR robot (sold separately)
  • 1 Sphero Global Challenge Season 4 Blueprint Kit (sold separately, shipping early August)
  • 2 programming devices with access to the Sphero Edu app installed
  • 10’ x 10’ hard & flat surface for the provided Competition Field
  • Video recording device (such as a smartphone)
Sphero indi global challenge.
Sphero indi global challenge.
Sphero indi global challenge.

SKILLS

  • Students will explore computational thinking skills by designing a route for indi, constructing a secret message, and disguising indi to demonstrate their understanding of:

    • Problem Solving
    • Algorithmic Thinking
    • Basic Coding Concepts
    • Pattern Recognition
  • Students will use BOLT robots and Blueprint to recreate spy missions for mission objectives—all while learning different programming skills including:

    • Loops
    • Conditionals
    • Variables
    • Functions
  • Students will turn RVR+ into a spy vehicle. Combined with Blueprint, students will use their sidekick spy vehicle to complete mission objectives and demonstrate their programming skills including:

    • Loops
    • Conditionals
    • Variables
    • Functions

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

Sphero Global Challenge logo and badges

IMPORTANT DATES

  • August 14, 2023 - Sphero Global Challenge Season officially begins! This is a good date to aim to have your team members decided and meetings scheduled
  • September 2023 - New Coaches Webinar
  • January 2024 - Office Hours Webinar for coaches
  • February 1, 2024 - Registration Deadline
  • February 14, 2024 - Virtual Submissions Due
  • Spring 2024 - Sphero World Championship for finalists (virtual)

WHAT COACHES GET:

Upon registration, we’ll email you everything you need to participate in the Sphero Global Challenge Season 4, including:

Kids coding in Sphero Robotics and STEM competition.

Assemble Your Espionage Network

Starting a team of spies is easier than you think! Coaches do not need to be programmers, or even educators, to support students through the Sphero Global Challenge. Instead, act as a facilitator as students work to explore, solve problems, and unleash their creativity.

The Coaching Guides will give you the tools and structure to guide your students through each event. The Sphero Global Challenge is perfect for after school programs, STEM/STEAM Clubs, school-day science blocks, or even for students to work on at home.

Structuring Your Team

Teams can consist of 1–5 students. After purchasing the registration, you will receive an email with a link to fill out a form to finalize your team’s registration. For larger groups of students (i.e. robotics clubs), we recommend forming multiple teams. In this case, you will need to purchase a registration for each team and finalize the registration for each team separately. Coaches are welcome to lead as many teams as they'd like.

Team Roles

Coaches can encourage collaboration, communication, and team building by giving students team roles to help fulfill all of the elements of the mission objectives.
Laptop with code on the screen.
A wrench and gear.
Icon of a bug.
Camera and pencil.
List with check boxes.

Have Questions?

Check out our SGC FAQs or reach out to competitions@sphero.com!