General Info

Welcome to the CREATE Foundation  U.S. Open Robotics Championship.  The U.S. Open has grown into one of the largest robotics tournaments in the world and we hope you can join us in 2017. 

We expect the 2017 U.S. Open to be the biggest and best yet. Regular season tournaments from around the world are qualifiers for this signature event.  We wish all teams the very best of luck.

There are five distinct divisions in this multifacted event.  This is the VRC - Middle School Division.  If you are looking for one of our other divisions: VRC- High School, VEX IQ, CREATE Jr, or the Open Division, 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 wait list.  If any teams are invited off the wait list they will be notified, at the earliest, mid February.

Tournament Code of Conduct

CREATE Sponsored and Co-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.

Video Judging

Video Judging will be used this year for all Middle School Divisions. Video judging requires each team to submit a video based upon the guidelines found here. Be sure to read the Team Guidelines thoroughly. Feel free to review the two event partner documents too. This will give you a clear understanding of how video judging works and how your will be graded.

All teams are highly encouraged to submit a team video. Many awards including Excellence and Design require the submission of a video. Teams with superior videos will be first interviewed in their pit area and then potentially invited to face-to-face interviews. If your team advances to the face-to-face interviews an invitation will be placed on your pit table Friday morning. Be sure to bring your engineering notebook in case you are selected for a face-to-face interview.

Submit video by filling out this Middle School Video Judging Google Form.

Submission Deadline: March 28th, 2017

Waiver

All team members, coaches and any adult assiting a team are required to fill out and submit a Heartland Regional Waiver form.  Be sure to read the waiver form over thougoughly.  To help event registration to move along quickly we ask each person to have filled out this waiver prior to arriving.  Thank you in advance for helping with this. Here is a direct link to the Waiver form. (Please note: This waiver is mandatory, but is the only one required.)

Wait List

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

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

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

Agenda

For a full schedule of this division and all other division 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.

For volunteer information please visit our Tournament Home 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 Policy

Refunds of $250 will be issued to teams requesting, in writing, a refund prior to 2/1/2017.  $100 refunds will be issued to teams requesting a refund, in writing, prior to 3/20/2017.  No refunds will be issued after 3/19/2017.  (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.)

Travel Info

For travel information please visit our Tournament Home Page.

Webcast

A link to the webcsat will be posted on our Tournament Home Page no later than 4/4/2017.