General Info

Welcome to The Middle! Thank you for your interest in our first ever BLENDED tournament to be held on Saturday, November 8, 2025 at the Petal Middle School Gymnasium! Please check the website as the event date approaches for updates to the event.

GENERAL INFORMATION:

LOCATION:  The event will take place at Petal Middle School in the gym. We are located at 203 E. Central Avenue in Petal.

AGENDA:  Saturday, November 8, 2025

• 8:00 AM Doors Open
• 8:15 AM - 10:30 AM Team Check In, Inspection & Skills Challenge Opens
• 9:00 AM Team Check-In + Inspection Closes
• 10:40 AM Driver Meeting
• 11:00 AM Qualification Matches Begin
• 12:00 PM - 12:45 PM Lunch Break
• 12:45 PM Qualification Matches Resume
• 3:30 PM Finals Alliance Selection
• 3:45 PM Finals Begin
• 4:30 PM Awards Ceremony

Please be flexible as our agenda is tentative and subject to change. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please email [email protected].

LUNCH:  We will stop the tournament for a 45-minute lunch break. Matches will start back at 12:45. Volunteers and teams need to be back in place 5 minutes before. We will not hold a match for any team that is late to their match time. There are several lunch options within 5 minutes of the venue. NOTE: There will NOT be any sort of concessions or drink machines, so please bring your own snacks or drinks.

VOLUNTEERS:  Please consider volunteering at our event. We could not run our tournament without the help of volunteers! You can sign up HERE. 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR TEAMS:

CONSENT FORMS:  All participants must have a Participant Release Form on file. It is the responsibility of the Team’s Primary Contact to make sure this occurs. A link to the instructions on how to submit a Participant Release Form is found HERE.

DIGITAL NOTEBOOK:  A digital Engineering Notebook (or scanned copy of a written notebook) must be submitted to qualify for the Excellence Award, Innovate Award, and Design Award. Engineering notebooks will be submitted digitally for evaluation via a link found within the "My Account" panel of the team contact on RobotEvents. Notebooks must be submitted by 5:00 pm on Saturday, November 1, 2025 if you want it considered for judging. The notebook is only shared with event staff, including the Event Partner, Judge Advisor, and Judges, and may include the REC Foundation RSM. Details on this process are given in the Judge Guide Addendum.

INNOVATE AWARD:  To be considered for the Innovate award, you must include a completed Innovate Award Submission Form in your digital notebook. The completed form should be inserted immediately after the Engineering Notebook’s cover page or in a separate section as noted in the Table of Contents. Teams may only submit one aspect of their design to be considered for this award at each event. Submission of multiple aspects will nullify the team’s consideration for this award.

INSPECTION:  Inspection is scheduled first thing in the morning. All teams must pass inspection to be allowed to compete in either skills or qualification matches. Please be prepared and ensure that your robot will pass inspection BEFORE the competition by reviewing the INSPECTION CHECKLIST.

INTERVIEWS:  All teams will be interviewed in-person at the event. Judges will come to interview teams in the morning prior to qualification matches and will leave a note at your table if they miss you. Please leave a representative at your pit area at all times so they can come get you when the judges are ready for your team. 

TOURNAMENT: Teams should carefully review the GAME MANUAL. Know the rules!! We will be running 3 fields at the tournament and will have one additional field set up for practicing. Please help to make sure your teams are on the field when they need to be. Drive teams will be responsible for resetting the challenge fields after their skills attempt or teamwork match. 

AWARDS:  We will be giving out the following awards:

• Excellence Award
• Teamwork Champions Award (2 teams)
• Design Award
• Robot Skills Champion
• Judges Award
• Innovate Award

Certain awards, such as the Excellence Award, Design Award, and Innovate Award have specific criteria that must be met in order to qualify. If no team qualifies for the award, the award will not be handed out. Click here for a description of each award. Note: This includes descriptions for awards that will not be handed out. Please refer to the list above for what will be handed out at this specific tournament.

Grade Level: All

Skills Challenge Offered: Yes

Judging Format: Remote Engineering Notebooks