Official Q&A: Judging

In the Engineering Notebook Rubric, under Engineering Design Process – Develop Solutions and Prototypes are documented, to achieve exemplary, it states that 3 or more prototypes for a solution must be documented. Our question is: How broad does this definition go? Does it include CAD drawings, previous completed robot designs, or simply 3 seperate, explicitly designed for prototyping designs for each solution. Overall, we are looking for more clarity, as the term prototype can be very vague, especially when used in this context.

The rubric does not restrict "attempts at a solution" to only purpose-built physical prototypes. A previous complete robot design, a CAD drawing of a discarded mechanism, or an explicitly built test prototype can all count — as long as the notebook shows they are connected attempts at solving the same problem, not just three unrelated designs sitting next to each other.

The guidance repeatedly emphasizes that judges look for evidence of the Engineering Design Process — that the team tried things, learned from results, and improved. Three documented attempts that clearly connect (showing what changed and why) is the target, regardless of whether they are physical prototypes, CAD models, or prior robot versions.

In practice: what earns Exemplary isn't the format of each attempt, it's the visible thread between them — each one building on what was learned from the last. Three CAD iterations with no stated connection score no higher than a single build; three attempts (in any mix of physical, CAD, or prior-version form) that trace a clear line of reasoning from one to the next meet the standard.