Great Lakes-Midwest-Illinois Vex Robotics Championship

February 2, 2013 (updated 2/1/2013; 1:15pm cst)

Fox Valley Robotics and Batavia Robotics are proud to be the regional host for the "Great Lakes-Midwest-Illinois Vex Robotics Championship" to be held on February 2, 2013. Qualifying teams will have a chance to continue on to the grand championship. The teams competing consist of kids who are middle school or high school level.

There is no charge for admission and the public is welcome.

Interested in volunteering to help out or judge?
Please fill in our volunteer form.

Teams needing to sign up for the competition
Go to the official registration site --- click here.

Specifics
The competition this year will be held on Saturday at the following location. Ample parking is available and admission is free.

Rotolo Middle School
1501 S. Raddant Road
Batavia, IL. 60510

Overview / Schedule
The tentative schedule for the event will be as follows:

Documents for Teams Participating

Every person attending the Regional agrees to the following FVR/BR/FVTech-ED Consent and Waiver of Liability for Attended Event

Every team member, mentor, and coach must turn in a Consent Form at the registration desk at check-in time.

If your are incorrectly listed on the RobotEvents site under "Team List" send an email to the regional coordinator.

Schedules
Team Judging Time Schedule
Inspection Times will start at 8 am.
Qualification Matches (will be distributed before opening ceremonies)

No Show Policy

Any teams that for whatever reasons are unable to attend the event need to notify us via email as soon as possible after learning of such reason. Those teams that are unsure and think that they may be unable to attend the event are asked to email us a cell phone number. This is so that we have a means to contact you if you have not checked in yet by 8:00 AM and we can make sure you will still be attending or not.

Directions / Maps

Batavia is located approximately
- 1 hour due west of Chicago
- 1 hour driving distance from Rockford
- 2 hours from Milwaukee

The facility which is being used is approximately 7 minutes away from the I-88 Farnsworth Avenue North Exit.

Click here for google map
Click here for yahoo map

For your convenience, here are some pdf maps
New --> RMS Detailed interior map
New --> RMS Satellite image map with mark-ups
Illinois and Batavia
Batavia regional
Batavia surrounding
Batavia from the expressway
Batavia Street and the competition location
More detailed regional competition location

Entrance
Use doors N11 or N5 as indicated on the maps.

Unloading Zone
A drop off area is around the back southwest corner for unloading of equipment.
Unless you have an extra-ordinary amount of materials to bring in or if you are bringing a playing field or elements, we recommend that you do not use the unloading zone. We expect it to be quite chaotic back there.

Parking
We are asking that use the large parking lot on the north side of the school, and try to stay on the west end.
For buses, we have been approved to have you park in the small basketball immediately west and adjacent to the large parking lot.
There is also a parking lot on the east side of the school for overflow.

Hotels / Accommodations and Surrounding Areas

Contact us for recommendations if you are staying overnight.
Discount arrangements have been made at a local hotel which is approximately 8 minutes away from the facility.

Facility Notes

No rollers or blade-like shoes allowed.
No open toed shoes allowed in the pit area or the competition floor.
Safety glasses are required on the competition floor and in the pit area. You will need to bring these with you.
Internet access is not available.
No smoking or alcoholic beverages are allowed in the facility.

Check In

You will receive a "Welcome Packet" with all the pertinent information.
Don't forget to submit at the registration table the following:
a) Consent Forms
b) Engineering Notebook (optional)
c) Lunch pre-order forms with payment (check, credit card, or cash accepted)
d) Text Messaging Form (optional, or emailed 2 days before the event)

Vex Text Messaging and Notification of Match Times

We are going to use the VEX Text messaging feature which allows a text message to be sent to up to 3 mobile phones. Two alerts are sent - one 20 minutes before the match and another 10 minutes before the match. In order to use this facility, you must fill out the form and send it to us (two days before the event) or bring it with you and turn it in at registration.

Judging and Inspections

Team Judging Time Schedule starts at 8 am
Inspection Times will start at 8 am.

Don't be late! Judging and inspections will start promptly.

Judging will be held in designated rooms which are about 5 minutes from the pits. You will be assigned a time slot and a specific room. The judging rooms this year are located on the 2nd floor. There is an elevator north of the stairs that can be used for those needing it. Refer to the interior map for details.

Inspections will consist of three parts:

a) Hardware inspections
b) Software inspections
c) Field connectivity and verification

You must pass inspection in order to compete. If you are having problems passing inspection, let us know immediately. We will find someone to help you. We want every team to be able to compete and have a great time.

Inspection times will be pre-assigned, but we encourage teams to go to inspection as soon as they are ready, especially if there is not a line. The sooner you pass the inspection the easier the day will go.

The checklists are located in the game manual in the back, or click here.

Awards and Advancement to the World Competition and to the US Open

The Event will consist of more than 48 teams and is considered a Level 4 event and will follow the guidelines set forth as indicated in the official game manual or at the IFI/VEX main site for advancment.

Pit Area

Each team will have a 6' cafeteria style table in the pit area with a surge protector.
Please do not change tables as the team locations are in the event documentation.

Tools

There will be an area set up with power tools operated by our people for those circumstances where you need some heavier equipment to do the job.

Reminders and things to check on

Review the following documents for some guidelines
Team Checklist for Events Great Lakes
101 Things I Wish I Knew Before My First Tournament Event

GENERAL ITEMS TO BRING
Bring your robot, original source code programs, computer. Make sure it works and you can modify your program properly.
Bring extra robot parts in case something breaks or needs to be replaced.
You may want to bring a back up of the program and an extra computer in case it is needed.

PROGRAMMING TEMPLATE
Don't forget to load the template for your programming language onto the robot.. One of the main issues for not passing inspection and for the robot not running correctly on the playing field is the lack of the template.

SAFETY GLASSES
Don't forget the safety glasses!. Safety glasses are required by everyone in the pit area and in the competition field area.

RULES
Know the rules and know the inspection checklists
A sample Bill of Materials (BOM) is located in the Game Manual
Check the forum for last minute clarifications.

SMILE and GOOD DISPOSITION
Bring a happy smile and a good disposition, and of course, don't forget about respect and courtesy.
Remember, everyone is a volunteer who is trying to make this event special for you.

Food the day of the competition & concessions

A large variety of reasonably priced delicious food items will be available for purchase through-out the day, including breakfast selections, refreshments, lunch items, and snacks. We appreciate your patronage of our concessions as it helps to defray the regional costs.

We will be selling the famous Hexbugs at the regional.

Purchase can be made with cash, check, or credit card.

Pre-order lunch forms need to be turned in at check in time or by 9:30 am.

"No one that comes to our regional goes away hungry!"

Armed Forces Support

We will be collecting items for the Armed Forces. We are asking each team to bring at least one bag to donate. You can include a letter with your bag if you like.

Bags should be dropped off in the concessions area.

Click here for a list of suggested items.

Other Regionals

For a complete list of all regional competitions around the country, click here.

Check back soon for other updates.