Sharing with PV, Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan Dai - teacher in charge of the SuperNova team (Cau Giay Secondary School) - the team that just won the 2026 VEX Robotics Vietnam National Championship in the Northern qualifying round said: "Previously, building a robot team encountered many difficulties because students lacked space for practice. Now, with a STEM room fully equipped and standard desks, students can assemble, test and program robots right at school. This environment helps students adjust codes according to reality, improve skills and be more confident when entering completely new competition tables".
Practice space - "launching pad" for students to develop programming skills
STEM rooms with modern equipment are a "launching pad" to help students develop programming, assembly and problem solving skills. According to Ms. Lan Dai, this space creates a proactive learning environment, where students both experiment and debate to improve products. When given the opportunity to verify the arguments, students can easily optimize the robot before entering the competition, she emphasized.
Before the STEM room, the establishment of a robot team encountered many difficulties. Students have to rent outside locations, limit their practice time and receive little direct support from teachers. Now, with a reception hall and international standard equipment right at the school, assembling, testing, and programming have become more convenient.
Ms. Lan Dai assessed that the "STEM Innovation Petrovietnam" program with international standard STEM rooms helps students feel more confident when collaborating in teams, building tactics and preparing for regional or international competitions.
Student experience - From theory to practice
Student Nguyen Anh Kiet (class 8A1) - a member of the SuperNova team could not hide his excitement when sharing: "The STEM room has many modern equipment, helping us to test and improve robots better. Through each try - mistake - correction, I have learned to identify errors faster, come up with solutions and understand the robot structure more deeply. Thanks to regular practice, I am much more confident when entering the competition".
As for student To Bao An (class 9A5), the STEM room is the "pill" for the team to enter the Northern tournament with a ready spirit. Thanks to Petrovietnams investment, we are able to use modern equipment to install more complete and efficient robots. That helped us win the Northern First Prize and many other awards.
The skill that To Bao An has improved the most is controlling robots thanks to having a standard practice ground right in school, robot driving practice becomes methodical, the speed of handling situations increases significantly. This helps Bao An confidently aim for major tournaments and expect to have the opportunity to compete internationally.
Student Phan Trung Kien (7A6) - one of the youngestend programmers - still clearly remembers the times "robots run away from the angle on the desert". I shared that writing code on a computer always gives very standard results, but when the robot is running, each table has different deviations, forcing me to constantly edit the code.
At the competition, Trung Kien was in charge of the programming for the automatic competition. Despite many difficulties, he still persistently completed the exam and achieved 110 points, an encouraging result for 7th graders. According to Kien, it is the practice hours every day in the STEM room that have helped him understand how to handle real-life situations, turning programming knowledge into solid skills.
Not only have they improved their expertise, but students have also matured significantly in their teamwork skills. Bui Tuan Minh (9A5), in charge of installing the team's robots, said that he learned how to cooperate, control emotions and communicate more effectively.
Brilliant mark at VEX Robotics 2026 Award
On November 21-22 in Lang Son, Cau Giay Secondary School participated in the 2026 VEX Robotics Vietnam National Championship Northern Round with 5 teams: SuperNova, VIC-A80, IronBot, Stallion and Venus - and all 5 teams won the prize. The SuperNova team won the Excellence Award, the highest award of the junior high school group; VIC-A80 won the Design award; IronBot received the Excellence Award from the Primary School group; Stallion won the Creative award; and Venus won the Build award.
These achievements are clear evidence of the effectiveness of the STEM room in schools. When learning to go hand in hand with the onions, technology becomes closer and robots become tools for students to explore the creative world.
As Ms. Lan Dai shared: In the contest, most of the work was done by the children themselves. This is truly a playground for students. And it is the modern practical space from the STEM Innovation Petrovietnam program that has opened up opportunities for students to access technology, practice skills and become a better version of themselves.
