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 in 2023. 

We expect the 2023 U.S. Open to be the biggest and best yet. Regular season tournaments from across the United States and Canada are qualifiers for this signature event.  Teams from the rest of the World are invited on a country-by-country basis.  We wish all teams the very best of luck.

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

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.

Volunteer

To sign up to volunteer at the VRC Middle School Event click HERE.

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.

Remote Judging

Remote Judging will be used this year for all Middle 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 Robotics Championship.

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 VRC MiddleSchool Remote judging team interview HERE. (Don't forget to submit your Engineering Notebook via the submission portal on Robotevents.com.)

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

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 sign up HERE.
 

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.  Online waivers will be accepted.) 

Qualification Criteria

For all Official 2022-2023 VRC tournaments worldwide the following award winners will qualify for the 2023 CREATE U.S. Open Robotics Tournament:

    Excellence Award Winner

    Both Tournament Champions

    Both Tournament Finalists

    Design Award Winner

    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 Event 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 tournament, 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 tournaments 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: Middle School

Skills Challenge Offered: Yes

Judging Format: Remote Interviews & Notebooks