General Info

WA State Championships for the 2016-2017 VRC Starstruck and VEX IQ Crossover Season will take place at the Nicholsan Pavillion, and is hosted by Central Washington University (CWU).

Team Arrival

Teams are highly encouraged to come on Friday March 10 to Ellensburg, and do early check-in, Inspection and Skill Runs.  (Please see agenda tab for details on when facilitiy is open to teams) Teams not coming on Friday are not disadvantaged.  We know however some teams have to travel greater distances, and are more comforatble arriving the night before, and by giving those teams an opportunity to check-in early you will help make Saturday morning go easier for everyone.

Please note: teams not checked in by the end of Team Check-in window will not be added to the qualification matches schedule. (See schedule for teacm check-in deadline.)

Travel Delay

The tournament is not able to wait for teams being delayed for any reason - if you are delayed please send text to 2064094168 with your team number and ETA.

Championship Apparal Store

Special WA State Championship apparal is available from Shirtworks in Ellensburg.  This apparal maybe pre-ordered (highly recommended) and will also be avialble for sale during the Championship event.  To pre-order your apparal please go to this special WA State Championship Apparal store.

Concessions

On Saturday CWU will offer concessions both inside the facility and right outside there will be a food truck.  

Concessions Hours:    7:00AM - 5:30PM  -- Menu  Concessions Menu

Food Truck Hours:  10:00AM - 3:00PM --- Menu Food Truck Menu

World Championships Qualification Spots

In the VRC High School division, the following awards will earn WC spots:

Tournament Winners (3 teams on alliance)
Tournament Finalist (3 teams on the alliance)
Excellence Award
Design Award
Skills Champion
Highest Ranked WA Skill Challenge team not qualified through other awards.

Registration Fee

Teams that qualify after Feb 2, 2017, (or qualified for a Championship that is less than three weeks away) will have one week to register and pay (provided there is still space available in the State/Regional/Provincial Championship). A qualified team that registers after the cutoff date will be given priority on the VRC State Championship waitlist, but will no longer have a guaranteed spot.

Competition Waiver Form

A completed and signed competition waiver form for each student particiapting and the lead coach/mentors of each team is required. (See Documents tab for up-to-date forms)  Teams will not be considered checked in unless all team members and the coach/mentor have submmited a Competition Waiver.

Team Swapping

Team swapping or substitution at State Championship is not allowed.

Skill Challenges

This event will offer skills - both programming and driver and teams will be allowed a maximum of 2 attempts each.

Qualifiaction Matches

Each team will participate in 6 qualification matches, however if due to unforseen circumstances the event is delayed the number of matches maybe decreased to 5.

Practice FIelds

Practice fields are a shared resources between all VRC teams (High School and Middle School) Please be conisdered when using and ensure ALL teams have access.

Judging

All teams wanting to be considered for the Excellence award and the Design award need to turn in their engineering notebook at team check-in.  Only teams based on their submitted Engineering Notebook will be interviewd in a judging session for Design Award consideration and Excellence Award consideration, teams will be visited in their pits.

Inspection

All robots MUST pass inspection before being allowed on any field - practice, skill or competition fields.  Robots not passing Inspection by the time inspection is scheduled to close will not be allowed to particiapte in qualification matches.  All robots in the elimination rounds will at random be re-inspected, any robot violating the size rule will be removed from the field immediately.

PTC test - robots may at random be required to undergo the PTC test, a motor failing the PTC test will result in the team being tournament disqualification.

VEX Remote failures

Remotes will be inspected to ensure they have the clip in working order, teams with remotes not having the required clip will be informed of that and what possibly may happen on the field.  Having bad connections in the remote - crossed pins, no clip can cause the VEXnet to be interrupted and cause robots not starting the autonomous or driver coontrol portion - this is a team caused field failure and no replays will be considered.

9V backup Battery

All robots MUST have the 9v Backup battery installed in order to be allowed on the skills and competition fields.  Failure to have the battery installed may result in being removed from the field.

Competition Preparation

This event is sure to be a fast-paced and exciting event. All teams should come prepared for competition. Here are a few steps that every team should take to ensure that they are prepared.

1. Review the rules and run through the inspection checklist about a week before the competition so that there is ample time for adjustments. The inspection checklist can be found under the documents tab.

2. Check the official VEX forums for rule updates and changes.

3. Carefully read all of the information contained in the tournament posting on RobotEvents.com

4. Pack for the event the day before the day of departure. Here are a few items that you don't want to forget.
Goggles/Safety Glasses
Spare parts & tools
Batteries and chargers
Programming cable
Power strip
Laptop computer
Engineering notebook (if you have one, helpful for Judges, Design and Excellence Awards )
Banners and other decorations for your team pit
Giveaways if you have them

5. Be sure to read 101 Things You Should Know Before Your First VEX Tournament.

6. Review the descriptions and criteria for the awards that are being given during the tournament.

7. Prep for your interviews with the judges. Check the awards tab to see what awards will be given during the tournament.

8. Remember that safety comes first, please don't bring tools that pose a safety risk to your team, or others nearby as the venue is a very tight fit. Also, remember no grinding or other actions that create sparks.

9. Understand how the game will be played. VEX participants are more than welcome to watch the referee training videos before they attend a tournament. The referee training videos can be found here.

10. Read through the Robot troubleshooting guide. 

11. Ensure that you have the latest version of firmware.