VEX Robotics Competition Event Management Guide Robotics Education & Competition Foundation Inspiring students, one robot at a time. VEX IQ CHALLENGE EVENT MANAGEMENT GUIDE Table of Contents Event-Day Checklist. 2 Uploading Events Results Guide 4 Event Meeting with Team Leaders and Drivers... 9 Related Links VEX IQ Event Documents Tournament Manager Software Tournament Manager User Guide Event Manager User Guide Robot License Plate Template
Event Day Checklist (PDF) This checklist is designed as a supplement to the Pre-Event Checklist, which is available on the following Event Documents sites. Please use this checklist and the following resources to assist you in coordinating a successful VEX IQ Challenge event: VEX IQ Event Documents: www.roboticseducation.org/vex-iq-challenge/viq-event-documents/ Tournament Manager Software Download: www.dwabtech.com/tm2/ (Includes User Guide download). To contact your REC Regional Support Manager, please visit: www.roboticseducation.org/contact-us/ Before the Event Gets Started Unlock the doors and turn on the lights and heating or air conditioning. Plan for room temperatures to change as the space(s) fill with participants. Open all restrooms. Make sure the restrooms are fully stocked with soap and paper supplies. Ensure all parking areas are accessible and signage is posted to direct participants to event check-in. Post all banners and event signage to direct participants to their proper event locations. Set up snacks and beverages for volunteers. Fuel their energy levels for the day! Set out the team registration and volunteer registration lists on the registration table(s) and make sure the table(s) are set up with blank consent forms, containers to collect signed consent forms, and engineering notebooks, pens, program fliers, and extra safety glasses for checkout to participants only. Name tags, shirts, event schedules, programs, and layout maps are optional. Check that all equipment and supplies are set up according to your layout plan. It is a best practice to set up your event in advance, if possible, so that only a quick review is required on event day. Label team practice tables or spaces in team number order. Signs can be printed using Tournament Manager Reports. Try to keep the tables for teams from the same school or organization together. Ensure that accessible seating is available. Establish chaperone areas for VEX IQ events. Check that the game fields are set up properly. For VEX IQ field specifications, please visit: www.roboticseducation.org/documents/2013/08/vex-add-it-up-field-drawings.pdf Ensure that the charging stations are set up with power strips and extension cords, if needed. Make that sure all cords are safely secured and are set up outside of high-traffic areas. Ensure that the inspection tables are set up with Inspection Checklists for each team, pens, blank robot license plates, and sizing tools. A game field may be used to help inspect the maximum allowed size of the robot. Make sure that all security updates and the most updated version of Tournament Manager are installed on the scoring computer. Having a backup computer available for use is a best practice. Print a test page on the scoring printer to ensure that the printer driver has been properly installed. Make sure that printer paper and an extra toner cartridge are available, if needed. Test all audio and visual equipment, such as projector(s), speakers, Tournament Manager displays and sounds, and the public address system to ensure that they are working properly. If you are using a wireless microphone, have extra batteries available for easy replacement. Make sure that the trophies are assembled and displayed in the event area and optional participation or recognition certificates are available for distribution. Ensure that a copy of the Game Manual, Appendix, and training guides, as well as documents, such as score sheets and rubric forms, as needed, are available for volunteer use and reference. Ensure that supplies are available for volunteer use; such as clipboards and pens for referees; highlighters and clipboards for the queuers; and pens, note pads, and timers; as needed for Judges. VEX IQ Challenge Event Management Guide 2 2/1/2016
When Teams and Volunteers Arrive Greet your volunteers and teams! Make sure they receive a warm welcome and are directed to the locations for check-in and training meetings. Provide support at the busy check-in tables, if needed. Make sure that all participating teams are registered and have paid their registration fees. Distribute two-way radios, if available, or exchange cell phone numbers among key volunteers. Share your event script or agenda with key volunteers. Share your safety plan with your Safety Coordinator and key volunteers. Ask a couple of veteran teams to check the game fields to ensure that they are set up properly. Greet special guests, sponsors, and members of the media. Share your plan for the event day and direct them to locations and volunteers, who can share details about the program and participants. If not distributed in advance, share the welcome and/or awards ceremony script with presenters. Determine, with your head judge, if you will distribute completed rubric forms to teams at the end of the event and plan accordingly. Judges should only include positive comments on rubric forms. Before the Robot Matches and Judging Get Started Check with the team registration desk to ensure that all teams have checked in. Make an attempt to contact teams that are not checked in before removing them from the team registration list. Upload the updated team registration list to the Tournament Manager program, if necessary. Check that the volunteer registration desk is making adjustments, as needed, due to no-shows. Ensure that lead volunteers coordinate any scheduled volunteer training meetings. Make sure that all teams have passed or are prepared to pass robot inspection. Ask veteran teams that have passed inspection to support the efforts of other participating teams to pass inspection. Once the schedule and list of participating teams is established, print the match schedule for distribution to each team, the queuers, scorekeeper, judging team, and key volunteers. Print a copy of the Announcer Sheet for the Emcee from Tournament Manager Reports. Conduct a team meeting prior to the start of the robot matches. Use the topics, outlined in the Team Meeting Notes document on the Event Documents site, as a guide for your meeting. During the Event Ensure that snacks and beverages are available for all volunteers and lunch is provided for full-day volunteers. Be sensitive to volunteer dietary restrictions. Follow venue food and drink policies. Walk around to proactively resolve any issues, answer questions, and provide support, as needed. Ensure that trash containers are emptied and that the restrooms are clean and well stocked. Have the scorekeeper periodically save a copy of your event file in the Tournament Manager program. Periodically ensure that the judges receive updated match results and rankings to support their evaluations of teams. Check with your Head Judge to ensure that judging activities are on schedule. Return engineering notebooks to teams after the judging team has completed their evaluations. Encourage all teams, volunteers, and sponsors to participate in the awards ceremony, which celebrates the accomplishments of all teams and provides recognition for judged and performance-based awards. Collect the list of award recipients from the Head Judge for inclusion in the Awards Ceremony script. Have the scorekeeper enter awards information into the Tournament Manager file. This information can then be used to develop optional Tournament Manager presentation slides for the awards ceremony. Thank your volunteers, coaches, mentors, parents, and sponsors for their invaluable support! After the Event Ensure that the scorekeeper has entered all event data into the Tournament Manager file, provided you with a backup copy, and uploads all Tournament Manager results to RobotEvents.com. Send a follow-up message of appreciation to your volunteers. Take down all equipment and materials for safe storage and clean the venue, as required. Share photos and/or news from the event with the media and your community. Maintain signed consent forms for a recommended one-year period. Maintain all materials until all results have been successfully uploaded. Collect and destroy confidential judging materials. Establish a plan and a place for participants to pick up lost and found items. Celebrate your accomplishments! Remember all of the smiles! Thank you for your support! VEX IQ Challenge Event Management Guide 3 2/1/2016
What and Why VEX Tournament Manager Results Uploading Process (PDF) Allows direct uploading of event results to RobotEvents.com from within Tournament Manager. Publishes match scores, rankings, skills challenge scores, and award winners on your event page on RobotEvents.com. Includes your skills challenge results into the Global Skills Rankings (if your event qualifies). Automatically enters your award winners so you don't have to do it by hand on admin.robotevents.com. Process Overview Enter your Event Code & Tournament Manager Code on the General Setup page in the wizard or in Tools>Options menu. o Reminder: treat the Tournament Manager Code like a password only give it to people you trust (otherwise nefarious users can upload bogus results for your event). When event is complete, choose File>Upload Results to RobotEvents.com. Use checkboxes to select which event info to include. Use checkbox to Finalize the results. Click Upload. General Setup Page Event is Listed checkbox must be checked. Event Code & Tournament Manager Code must be filled in correctly. VEX IQ Challenge Event Management Guide 4 2/1/2016
Event Code & Tournament Manager Code from Admin.RobotEvents.com Event Code & Tournament Manager Code are available from Event page on admin.robotevents.com. File>Upload Results Menu Select File>Upload Results after your event is complete. VEX IQ Challenge Event Management Guide 5 2/1/2016
Upload Event Results Window Information to Upload Checkboxes For normal use, leave all checked. If you ran a separate instance of Tournament Manager for skills (with a separate Tournament Data File), you can upload from that instance of Tournament Manager with Skills checked and everything else unchecked. Then, upload the remaining results from your competition Tournament Manager with Skills unchecked. Finalize checkbox should only be used once if you're uploading from multiple instances of Tournament Manager. When you're ready, click the Upload Now button. o May take a few minutes to upload. o Internet connectivity is required to be able to upload. Finalize Checkbox If you upload with this checked, the results will be finalized on RobotEvents.com. After finalizing, you cannot upload again from this event unless you unlock the event on admin.robotevents.com. Finalizing: o Publishes event results on RobotEvents.com Event Page. o Includes your skills challenge scores in the Global Skills. o Rankings (if your event qualifies). o Prevents future uploads from Tournament Manager unless you manually unlock the event on admin.robotevents.com. VEX IQ Challenge Event Management Guide 6 2/1/2016
Unlocking an Event General Information tab on admin.robotevents.com. Change to No and save to unlock your event. Does NOT remove skills results from the Global Skills Rankings. Uploading Errors When you upload, the server checks your data for errors: Event cannot already be finalized. Team list used inside Tournament Manager must match team list on admin.robotevents.com. Award list used inside Tournament Manager must match award list on admin.robotevents.com. Upload Error Messages VEX IQ Challenge Event Management Guide 7 2/1/2016
Team List Check It is acceptable to have teams registered on RobotEvents.com that are not in Tournament Manager (no-shows, etc.). It is not acceptable to add teams to Tournament Manager without also adding them on admin.robotevents.com. o This is important for REC Foundation record-keeping. When uploading, the team list is checked first for errors before anything else is uploaded. Award List Check All Official awards are checked (i.e. awards included by default with Tournament Manager). Unofficial awards can be added in Tournament Manager and will be ignored during upload (will not appear on RobotEvents.com, but will not cause an error either). For official awards, the list in Tournament Manager must match the list on admin.robotevents.com (cannot have extras on either side). Award lists are only checked during upload if Awards checkbox is checked when uploading. Wrapping Up When complete, you will see a Success message in the Upload Results window. Double-check results on your RobotEvents.com Event Page to make sure everything looks correct. If your event is eligible for the Global Skills Rankings, it will take a while before your results appear there (up to 12 hours). VEX IQ Challenge Event Management Guide 8 2/1/2016
Introduction Event Meeting with Team Leaders and Drivers (PDF) Prior to the start of match play, the Referee and/or Event Partner will meet with teams to share helpful event and venue details, including, but not limited to, the following suggested topics: Event Information Introduction of key event volunteers, including the Event Partner and Head Referee. Share location of restrooms, concessions, charging stations, and venue-specific rules. Event emergency and evacuation plan. Adult Team Leaders are responsible for student safety and conduct at all times. Keep the pit area clean and organized for safety and easy re-packing after the event. Teams are responsible for their equipment and materials. Don t leave materials unattended. Usage policy of practice fields. Teams must re-set game elements after each use. Students do the work - Adults may assist Students in urgent situations, but should never work on a robot, STEM Research Project, or Engineering Notebook without the active participation of Students on that Team. Judges will recognize student accomplishments in the VEX IQ Challenge. Location of STEM Research Project presentations and Project judging check-in process. Submit labeled Engineering Notebooks to the check-in desk before Match play. Agenda for the day, including special activities and their locations. Prepare for Robot Challenge Matches and Judging Process for getting in place (queuing) for the Robot matches and judging, if applicable. Have Drivers bring their alliance partner with them to the field for their scheduled Teamwork matches, so that the students support a successful queuing process and on-time schedule. Teams must be on time for all robot matches and judging sessions to support queuing. If a schedule conflict develops, notify the judges and report for robot matches on time. Robot Game Rules Summary These notations, <G#>, <R#>, or <T#>, reference a Game Manual Rule. Referees coordinate all matches according to the Game Manual and the rule updates posted on the VEX IQ forum. Field tolerances may vary by as much as + 1. Teams must design robots accordingly. <G12> Only two Student Drivers are permitted to be by the playing field. <T2> During Teamwork and Robot Skills Matches, robots may only be operated by the Drivers. Teams with only one Student at an event are granted an allowance to use a qualified Driver from the event. No Driver may fulfill this role for more than one team at the event. <G4> No Driver shall operate a Robot for more than 35 seconds. The two drivers must switch their controller between 25 and 35 seconds remaining in the match. <G4> At the beginning of a match, each robot must only contact the floor within a 13 x 13 area, fit within a 13 x 20 area bounded by the Starting Position, and be no taller than 15. During the match, robots may not expand beyond the 13 x 20 area, but may expand beyond the 15 height restriction. <G2 / G3> VEX IQ Challenge Event Management Guide 9 2/1/2016
Robot Game Rules Summary (continued) Teams must bring their robots to the field prepared to play. Teams must have their batteries charged before they place their robot on the field. <R16> There are no time outs in the Qualifying Matches or Finals Matches. <T4> During the match, Drivers must remain in their Driver Station, except when legally interacting with the Robot. <G5> Before retrieving a robot in need of assistance, Students must signal the Referee by placing their controller down. Drivers must reset the Robot so that it is touching the field perimeter and is not in the Scoring Zone. Any balls in possession of the robot while being handled must be removed and taken out of play for the remainder of the match. <G14> Balls that leave the playing field will not be returned to the playing field. <G7> Robots may not make contact with either the Scoring Zone or the Goal. <G11> Drivers must wait for a countdown to start the match. When the match has ended, Drivers must put their controllers on the floor and may help the Referees count the match score. For Skills Challenge Matches Only: o The robot may be placed in either of the two Starting Positions on the field. For Programming Skills Matches Only: o Teams must bring robot controllers to the field, but not engage the robot with the controller during the match. <PSC2> o A team may handle their Robot as many times as they want. <PSC1> Upon handling, o The robot must be immediately brought back to a legal starting position. o Any scoring objects in the possession of the Robot will be removed from the playing field and can no longer be used. o Any Scoring Objects in the Starting Position where the Robot is being placed will be removed from the playing field and can no longer be used. Referee rulings are final. If there is a disagreement with scoring, only the Team Drivers, not an adult, may share questions with the Referee. Once the field is cleared, Drivers can no longer dispute the match score. Referees will not review any recorded replays. <T1> The low score for each team will drop at the end of every four Teamwork Challenge qualifying matches. o Since this event has [insert number] rounds of Teamwork Qualifying Matches, the [insert number] lowest score(s) for each team will not count toward the Teamwork rankings [4-7 rounds = 1 low score will not be counted; 8-11 rounds = 2 lowest scores not counted; 12-15 rounds = 3 lowest scores not counted]. From this event, [insert number of teams] will qualify to advance to the [insert name] championship event, including these award recipients, [insert qualifying award names]. All students and adults associated with a team are expected to conduct themselves in a respectful and positive manner while participating in VEX IQ Challenge events. If Student and/or adult team members are disrespectful or uncivil to event staff, volunteers, or fellow teams, their team may be disqualified from their current or upcoming Match. Judges may also consider team conduct and ethics in determining judged awards. <G16> Share Feedback Have Fun! Direct questions, concerns, or positive feedback to the Information Desk or Event Partner. Enjoy your VEX IQ Challenge experience! Thank you for your support! VEX IQ Challenge Event Management Guide 10 2/1/2016