Skip to Main Content
VEX Events
 
VEX Robotics

This Q&A is now read-only

Official Q&A: VEX V5 Robotics Competition 2025-2026: Push Back

Usage Guidelines All Questions

2953: Accessibility of V5 Brain or Battery Cable during Inspection

Brandon Montagnani (Event Partner)
29-Nov-2025

<R9> This question has two parts, using the same situation for both parts, so is essentially one question looking at both halves of rule R9.

PART 1 The first part of R9 says: The on/off button on the V5 Robot Brain and/or the Battery Cable connection on either the V5 Robot Brain or V5 Robot Battery must be accessible without moving or lifting the Robot. For the purposes of inspecting a robot, if the brain of a robot is on the bottom of a robot, facing towards the ground, requiring the robot to be lifted to be accessible during inspection, but the battery and battery cable is easily accessible without lifting the robot, should the robot pass inspection?

PART 2 The second part of R9 says: The V5 Brain screen must be easily visible during Robot inspection. Keeping the V5 Brain screen visible throughout a Match is recommended but not required. If the brain is not easily visible because it is on the bottom of the robot, facing towards the ground, and requiring the robot to be lifted to be visible, should the robot pass inspection?

R9  
Answered by committee
4-Dec-2025

Thanks for these questions, Brandon!

We'll start by expanding on the guidance in rule <R9> and better describing our intent.

  1. During a Match: As described in the red box in rule <R9>, it's important that a Robot can be powered down quickly and easily if there's a safety issue. Keeping the screen available during a Match is optional, but can provide some benefits to the team.
  2. During Robot inspection: Robot inspectors must be able to confirm that the Robot has current firmware (<R10>) and, if the event is using Smart Field Control, that the Robot Brain is named with the Team's number in the software. Robots can be lifted or flipped to see the screen during inspection. If even better visibility is needed, the Team can display the Brain name and firmware version in VEXcode or the V5 Firmware Utility on a device that is connected to the Brain.

If the power button and/or the battery cable connection are accessible without moving or lifting the Robot, and the inspector can verify the Brain name and current firmware version, the Robot meets the intent of rule <R9>. The Robot in your scenarios meets the intent of rule <R9>.

We're considering ways to further streamline and clarify this guidance in the 2026-27 game manual.