Taipei American School will host the 9th annual Formosa VEX Tower Takeover in the Upper School Joie Gymnasium from Dec. 6-7. This year, the school will host 36 schools from all over Asia competing for qualification in the VEX World Championship at Louisville, Kentucky, which will take place this spring from April 22-28.
The game for 2019-2020 VEX robotics will be Tower Takeover, as the name of the competition implies. The objective is to earn more points than the other alliance by stacking cubes in their designated goal. When a colored cube is put in the tower, that colored cube’s point in the goal will increase from one to two points.  
Four teams will represent the TAS Upper School computer science and robotics program. The teams have been working at least three times a week to prepare for this tournament since August, and sometimes even on the weekends from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. “Our schedule is very flexible and [our] teammates are encouraged to come,” Daniel Liu (‘21), captain of the 4253G Raid Zero, said. 
In addition, many teams from TAS have a strong base and experience in robotics. “Our school has been very successful [in the VEX program] because we have students who [are more experienced and] take leadership in leading the process,” organizer of the Formosa Vex Tournament Mr. Carlos Delgado-Mata said.“They also work well with each other, learn from past mistakes and taking ownership of it.”
Not only is the tournament competition, but it is also a place for students to learn more about engineering and programming. “The idea behind this entirely student-run tournament helps students develop their problem-solving skills and enhances their knowledge,” Daniel said. 
With the additional resources in the Solomon Wong Tech Cube, the VEX teams are able to acquire more space and tools to work with. “The Tech Cube really benefited our group and allowed us to work more efficiently,” Daniel said.