Our History
Robotics events live and die on trust — so this page is written to be checked. Every era below links to an official RobotEvents listing, a partner school's own statement, or results we published at the time.
2015–2018 — the RAT Race years
The RAT Race — Charter International School, Bangkok
It began as the “RAT Race” — an annual robotics, automation and technology competition founded by Rob Parker at Charter International School. It's why we're called the RAT Foundation today: a nod to the original game Rob built at Charter.
Rat Race Robotics
Charter's own footage of the event — watch the video on Charter International School's channel. Charter teams still compete at RAT events today.
2018 — the St Andrews years begin
Hosting VEX at St Andrews Bangkok
Rob Parker and Matthew Bonnell began eight years of hosting and running St Andrews' VEX events — the annual VIQRC and V5RC qualifiers, scrimmages and tournaments that grew into everything below. Along the way we also took teams to compete at Thailand's 2019 VRC National Championship at NIST (listing) — as attendees, not organisers.
2019–2024 — the Nationals years
Thailand's VEX IQ National Championship, at St Andrews
From 2019–20 through 2023–24, Thailand's IQ Nationals were hosted and run at St Andrews: Squared Away (2020), 2021, Pitching In 2022 (the school's announcement), Slapshot 2023 (listing) and Full Volume 2024 — 63 teams from 23 schools.
The VRC Nationals come to St Andrews too
Thailand's V5 Nationals: Spin Up 2023 (listing — 36 teams from Thailand and Vietnam, per BIS Phuket's report) and Over Under 2024, where a Shrewsbury Riverside team qualified for the World Championship in Dallas (their school's post) — St Andrews' film of the day.
2024–25 season
Thailand Scrimmages — VIQRC Rapid Relay & V5RC High Stakes
56 teams came to St Andrews for Rapid Relay (the school's report), alongside the V5 High Stakes scrimmage. IQ listing · V5 listing.
Battle in Bangkok — VEX IQ Signature Events
World-Championship-qualifying Signature Events for Elementary and Middle School, hosted at St Andrews (announcement). Elementary listing · Middle School listing.
The first Thailand Cups
The Thailand Cup was born: the IQ Rapid Relay Cup on 8 February — 55 teams (Regent's International School's post · ICSN's report) — and the V5 High Stakes Cup on 22 February with 34 teams from across Asia-Pacific, run, in the school's words, “in collaboration with the RAT Foundation” (St Andrews' film).
St Andrews International School Bangkok partnership
St Andrews (a Nord Anglia Education school) formalised what was already eight years of Rob Parker and Matthew Bonnell hosting and running the school's VEX events — in their words: “In February 2025, we partnered with the RAT Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to running STEM and robotics events across Asia.”
2025–26 season
RAT Open — Helter Skelter
The first RAT Open: our platform-agnostic autonomous challenge, open to any robot. Published results · ICSN's coverage of their day at the event.
VEX VIQRC Mix & Match — St Andrews Qualification
IQ qualifying tournament at St Andrews. Published results.
VEX V5RC Push Back — St Andrews Qualification
V5 qualifying tournament toward Thai Nationals. Official listing on RobotEvents.
Thailand Cup — VIQRC Mix & Match + V5RC Push Back (St Andrews RAT Cup)
Our biggest day so far: 61 IQ team entries from 17 schools and 26 V5 entries from 10 schools, with 31 trophies awarded across both programs. The V5 tournament ran as a sanctioned charity event — “St Andrews RAT Cup” on RobotEvents. Match archive.
Registered as an official education charity
After two years operating as RAT — and a decade of running events before that — the foundation was formally registered with Thailand's Ministry of Interior as มูลนิธิหุ่นยนต์ ระบบอัตโนมัติ และเทคโนโลยีเพื่อการศึกษา (Robotics, Automation and Technology for Education Foundation), registration no. กท 3506. What began as a school competition is now a registered charity.
RAT Open — Helter Skelter V2 + RAT Run
The Open returned with an upgraded structure and a brand-new precision-driving challenge.
VEX IQ Panda Robotics Cup — ICSN
29 team entries from 8 schools at International Christian School Nonthaburi — ICSN's own event, which RAT has supported for the last two seasons: matches run on our platform, with our team helping run the event on the day. Read ICSN's page on the Panda Cup and their post on the 2025 RAT Foundation competition. ICSN also posted video of the first Panda Cup. Match archive.
2026–27 season — under way
RAT Open, Level Up & Override Qualifications, Thailand Cups
Registration is open now — see upcoming events. St Andrews also hosts the VEX V5 Signature Event Experience in December 2026.
In schools' own words
Schools writing about these events on their own sites and channels:
- Charter International School — “The VRC National Championships last Saturday were a resounding success for Charter” (2023)
- BIS Phuket — “St Andrews International School in Bangkok hosted the Senior VEX VRC Robotics Thai Nationals” (2023)
- Shrewsbury Riverside — four teams at the 2024 Nationals; one qualified for Worlds
- Shrewsbury City — “more than 70 teams at the VEX IQ Scrimmage at St Andrews” (2025)
- ICSN — nine teams with awards at the Thailand Cup 2025
- Regent's Bangkok — “Success at the Thailand Cup” (2025)
- Ruamrudee International School — Innovate Award at the Thailand Cup VEX V5 2025
- Thai-Chinese International School — Judges Award at the Thailand Cup 2026 (newsletter, PDF)
- Bangkok Prep — three teams at the Panda Robotics Cup
- Wellington College Bangkok — Year 6 first place, on to the St Andrews round (2023, archived)
See the events
Photos and film of these events, on the schools' own channels:
- “Student teams compete in VEX Robotics Thailand Nationals” — NBT World Newsline, Thailand's national English-language broadcaster, reporting from the Nationals at St Andrews (also on their Instagram)
- VEX V5RC tournament at St Andrews (December 2024) — on the school's YouTube channel, @standrewsbangkok
- The 2018 Rat Race — on Charter International School's channel
- The first Panda Robotics Cup — video on ICSN's Facebook page; more on their Instagram, @icsn.th
- “Success at the Thailand Cup” — Regent's International School Bangkok on Instagram, @regentsbangkok
- St Andrews' VEX hub — the school's own page on its VEX program and events
Statistics are drawn from this site's registration and results records as of August 2026. Spot an error? Tell us: admin@ratevents.org.