Robotics Education & Competition Foundation
Inspiring students, one robot at a time.

2024 CREATE U.S. Open Tournament - Elementary VIQRC

VIQRC - Elementary SCHOOL DIVISION

Date
18-Mar-2024 - 20-Mar-2024 Add to Calendar
Event Code
RE-VIQRC-23-3326
Program
VEX IQ Robotics Competition
Event Type
Tournament
Event Format
In-Person
Field Control System
N/A
Capacity
61
Spots Open
0
Event Region
Iowa
Max Registrations per Organization
4
Standard Registration Opens
5-Sep-2023 16:00 EDT
Registration Deadline
23-Feb-2024 16:00 EST
Price
$500.00
This event is closed to registration because:
  • This event currently has no spaces available.
  • It is past the registration deadline.

General Info

Welcome to the CREATE Foundation U.S. Open Robotics Tournament.  The U.S. Open has grown into one of the largest robotics tournaments in the world and we hope you can join us this year. 

We expect the 2024 U.S. Open to be the biggest and best yet. Regular season tournaments from around the world are qualifiers for this event.  We wish all teams the very best of luck.

There are four distinct tournaments in this multifaceted event.  This is the VEX IQ - Elementary School Tournament.  If you are looking for one of our other tournaments:: VRC- High School, VRC- Middle, or VEX IQ Middle School School please return to the main RobotEvents page and select the proper event.

Please be advised that you will have 3 weeks from the date of your qualifying tournament to register for the U.S. Open.  Once registered, you will have 3 weeks to pay.  Teams that miss the payment deadline will be moved to the waitlist.  If any teams are invited off the waitlist they will be notified, at the earliest, February 1.

To volunteer for the VEX IQ event click HERE. 

Tournament Code of Conduct

CREATE Sponsored events require teams to understand and accept a Tournament Code of Conduct. This Code of Conduct will help clarify the role of students and adults at CREATE events. Please be sure to read through the entire CREATE Tournament Code of Conduct and be sure that all members of your team understand it as well. We believe these simple rules will help everyone have a great experience.

Remote Judging

Remote Judging will be used this year for all VEX IQ Elementary School Divisions. Remote judging requires each team to sign up for a time on Signup Genius requesting a Remote Judging time. Each team will also have the opportunity to submit their digital notebook for review.  REC judging guidelines will be used for all Remote interviews.  You must participate in the remote judging to be considered for any judged awards at the U.S. Open.

All teams are encouraged to be judged by signing up for remote judging.   If there is a need for face-to-face interviews, teams will be given a notification when they arrive at the event. All teams are encouraged to submit their engineering notebooks to be considered for the design award.

Sign up for VEX IQ Elementary School Remote team judging interview HERE. Don't forget to submit your Engineering Notebook via the submission portal on Robotevents.com.)

NOTE: Spots are limited due to limited volunteer remote judges.  If we get more volunteer judges more spots will be added.  Email [email protected] to sign up to be a remote judge.    If you are interested in being a remote judge for the U.S. Open sign up HERE. 


Sign-up Deadline:  Two days before the listed remote judging date.

Engineering Notebook

ALL teams are strongly encouraged to submit a digital engineering notebook.  These will be reviewed via a digital copy you can submit on your Team Account on RobotEvents.com. This should be done whether or not you have done an online interview.  A review of your engineering notebook will be the first step in potentially earning the Design Award.

Due one week before your remote interview.

Waiver

REC Participant Release Forms (found HERE) will be required for 2023.  (We will no longer have a specific CREATE Waiver for this tournament.  Online waivers will be accepted.) 

Qualification Criteria

For all Official 2023-2024 VEX IQ tournaments in North America the following award winners will qualify for the 2024 CREATE U.S. Open Robotics Tournament (International teams will be invited on a case by case decision):

 Excellence Award

Teamwork Champions

2nd Place Teamwork Champions

Design Award

Robot Skills Champion

Invitations will be sent out to you from CREATE via email with instructions on how to register.  PLEASE ALLOW up to 2 weeks after the end of your tournament for invitations to be sent.  If you have not received an invitation by then feel free to reach out to us via email at [email protected].

Waitlist

Teams on the waitlist that have qualified for the U.S. Open will be given preference over non-qualified teams.

Qualified teams on the waitlist will be invited in the order they have added their teams to the waitlist, not the date of their qualification.

Teams on the waitlist from schools/organizations that have reached the individual school/organization team maximum will be invited last off the waitlist.

 

Invitations are NOT a Guarantee of Participation


Often, tournaments within the U.S. Open will fill before our registration deadline.  When it fills, there are normally many active invitations outstanding. But once filled, these invitations become null and void.  When a tournament fills, registration is permanently closed to domestic teams.  We do not expand capacity and no teams will be taken off of the waitlist.  Even if teams cancel, those spots are not opened back up.  The reason is that we set our capacity about 10% over our optimal capacity in anticipation of a certain number of teams canceling.  This is something that happens every year.  We feel this is the fairest way to handle the registration process and precludes the necessity to continually check back.  We hope this finality allows for clear planning on the part of all teams.  We are sorry that we cannot accommodate all the teams that want to attend, and are humbled by the great number of teams that do attend.  We also want to ensure a world-class event, and limiting registrations to an optimal number of teams is an important step in accomplishing this goal. 


Capacity Changing Over Time


If you continue to monitor this division, you may find that the overall capacity may increase over time.  This is to accommodate international teams.  We reserve a certain number of spots for international teams and hold those spots for them, as often they are not able to commit until later in the year.  If we did not hold them, most divisions would fill with U.S. teams only, thus greatly reducing the international flavor of our event.  Our desire is to be fair to all teams while balancing our desire to create an environment where cultural exchange is possible and encouraged. 

Note on the need for an Interpreter:

CREATE looks forward to hosting teams from around the world and teams with varying abilities to understand spoken English.  Please understand that our organization is simply not equipped to provide translation services, and all interviews, matches, and interactions at the tournament will be in spoken English.  Should your team need an interpreter we welcome you bringing one or more as needed.  Your team-provided interpreter will be included and welcomed as part of the team and will be allowed special access to interviews and matches to ensure your team has the best experience possible.


Grade Level: Elementary

Skills Challenge Offered: Yes

Judging Format: Remote Interviews & Notebooks

Event Dates & Locations

Date: 18-Mar-2024 - 20-Mar-2024

Venue/Location:
Iowa West Field House
5 Arena Way
Council Bluffs, Iowa 51501
United States

Contact the Event Partner

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Code of Conduct

The REC Foundation considers the positive, respectful, and ethical conduct of teams to be an essential component of the competition. Participants are expected to behave in a respectful and professional manner, and to operate as student-centered teams with limited adult assistance. This includes all students, teachers, coaches, mentors, parents, and spectators associated with a team.

For more details, please refer to the REC Foundation Code of Conduct and Student-Centered Policy. If you have concerns about compliance with the Code of Conduct, please speak to the Event Partner during the event.

Agenda

You can find a direct link to the VEX IQ Elementary School Division Schedule HERE. 

For more information about this, and all other divisions, please visit our Tournament Home Page. 

Volunteer

Join our great team of volunteers!  Benefits include a FREE hot lunch, snacks, beverages, an event t-shirt and the pride in knowing you were part of making the event a success.

To volunteer at the U.S. Open VEX IQ Middle School event please visit our VEX IQ Tournament Volunteer Page. 

Emergency/Bad Weather Policy

Due to the nature of scheduling an event of this size there is no viable way to have contigency dates due to weather and weather related events.


 

Refund and Payment Policies

All requests for refunds must be made in writing via email.  Full refunds will be granted to requests made prior to 1/1/2024.  Refunds of $250 will be issued to teams requesting a refund after 12/31/23 and prior to 1/20/2024. $100 refunds will be issued to teams requesting a refund prior to 2/23/2024. No refunds will be issued after 2/23/2024.  (In rare cases where the wrong event was registered for AND CREATE is notified within 48 hours of registration, a full refund might be granted after 12/31/23.)

It may not be possible to refund 100% of the registration fees should we encounter another government (Federal, State, City, or Local Health Department) mandated shut down.  We will endeavor to refund as much as possible, but we want all teams to understand that we cannot guarantee 100% refund due to the fact that we will have many non-refundable expenditures required in the planning an event of this type and size.  Also, we will not be able to offer refunds beyond what is stated above should your travel plans be restricted by your state, school district or school.

Date: 18-Mar-2024 - 20-Mar-2024
Iowa West Field House
5 Arena Way
Council Bluffs, Iowa 51501
United States

Travel Info

For travel information please visit our Tournament Home Page. 

Webcast

A link to the webcast will be posted on our Tournament Home Page  (Coming Soon) no later than 3/11/2023.

Judging Format

 

  •  All  teams will have to participate in Remote Judging to be considered for any judged awards.- The Initial Team Interviews will be conducted remotely, and Engineering Notebooks will be submitted to judges digitally via a link found within the "My Account" panel of the team contact on RobotEvents. .  Initial Interviews and Notebook submission deadlines will be scheduled ahead of the event date.
  • Sign your team up for remote judging HERE
  • If you are interested in being a remote judge for the U.S. Open sign up HERE. 

 

Things to keep in mind:

1. Interview times are set up by CREATE of selected dates and interview spots are offered as judges are available.  Interviews are conducted by volunteer judges and are therefore only available as judges are willing to volunteer.

2. Teams are responsible for finding a spot and signing up.  The volume of teams makes it impossible to let teams set an interview time.  They must select from the times that are available.

3. Information about remote interviews goes out in group emails and is posted on the event main page at robotevents.com.  The CREATE Foundation does its best to get this information to all teams but teams should be proactive in checking this information for their own benefit.

4. Once the window for remote judging is closed for a group the opportunity to have a remote interview is over due to the other tasks that must be completed prior to the in-person events.

5. We will always try to accommodate everyone but must set rules and, in order to be fair to ALL teams, abide by those rules.