General Info

Participant Consent Form

Please bring a signed participant consent form for all students, teachers, mentors & coaches who will be in attendance. These forms will be collected at registration. Photographs and videos will be taken throughout the event.

https://www.roboticseducation.org/documents/2018/03/participant-release-form.pdf

LATE Arrivals

Teams must be checked in 45 minutes prior to the start of the qualification matches so that the match schedule may be printed. Teams must contact the event partner if they are running late or they will be removed from the team list for the event.

Team Payment

Teams must be paid two weeks prior to the event. Teams not paid at this time may be dropped at the event partner's discretion to allow teams in from the wait list.

Excellence Award Criteria

This is the highest award presented in the VEX Robotics Competition. The recipient of this award is a team that exemplifies overall excellence in building a well-rounded VEX robotics program. This team excels in many areas and is a shining example of dedication, devotion, hard work and teamwork. As a strong contender in numerous award categories, this team deserves to be recognized for building a quality robot and a team committed to quality in everything that they do.

The Excellence Award is determined using:

The Engineering Design notebook
Tournament Qualification Round Ranking

Skills ranking
Judged performance in all other award categories

Using this wide range of criteria, the Excellence Award will be presented to the team who excels in all areas of VEX Robotics.

Design Award Criteria

This award is presented to a team that demonstrates an organized and professional approach to the design process, project and time management and team organization. The winning team will be able to describe how they implemented an efficient and productive design process to accomplish the project goals.

Engineering Notebook
The Engineering Notebook is a way for teams to document how the VEX Robotics Competition experience has helped them to better understand the engineering design process while also practicing a variety of critical life skills including project management, time management, brainstorming, and teamwork. The Engineering Notebook requirement of the Design Award has no specified format; each notebook should be created through a concerted effort by a team to document their design decisions. Teams should start their notebooks early and update them often.

Engineering is an iterative process. Iteration requires a student to recognize and define a problem, brainstorm and work through various stages of the design process, test their designs, continue to improve their designs, and continue the process until a solution has been identified. During this process, students will come across obstacles, encounter instances of success and failure, and learn many lessons. It is this process that students should document in their Engineering Notebook.

Additionally, the Engineering Notebook is an opportunity to document everything a team does so that it can serve as a historical guide of lessons learned and best practices. Students may include a plethora of things in their Engineering Notebook including: team meeting notes, design concepts and sketches, pictures, notes from competitions, team members observations and thoughts, team organization practices, and any other documentation that a team finds useful. The team should also document their project management practices including their use of personnel, financial, and time resources.

Key Criteria:
Engineering Notebook is a clear, complete document of the teams design process
Team is able to explain their design and strategy throughout the season
Team demonstrates personnel, time and resource management through the season
Teamwork, interview quality, and team professionalism.

Judges' Award Criteria

The Judges Award goes to a team the judges decide is deserving of special recognition. Judges consider a number of possible criteria for this award, such as team displays of special attributes, exemplary effort and perseverance at the event, and team accomplishments or endeavors throughout the season that may not fall under existing awards - but are nonetheless deserving of special recognition.

Grade Level: All

Skills Challenge Offered: Yes