Agenda

Sunday, January 25th 

Monday, January 26th

**All teams will experience at least eight (8) Qualifying Matches each.

Volunteer

Be a part of the excitement by joining the team of volunteers who will help in a variety of ways to make this event a success for the students involved!  You can register for an entire day or just a portion of the day, as your schedule permits, for most positions.

Lunch is included for all full-day volunteers.

Want to find out more about volunteer roles and expectations? Visit the REC Foundation Knowledge Base at REC Foundation > Volunteers to check out position descriptions and find volunteer training materials.

Please use the following link to register if you would like to help volunteer in some capacity at the Kalahari Classic event this year:

Volunteer SignUp 

Emergency/Bad Weather Policy

Teams will be notified 24 hours prior to the event if there is a weather concern for the event.

Refund and Payment Policies

Refund Policy:

Regardless of whether the Event Partner or the Team cancels, registration fees will NOT be refunded. 

Team swapping is not allowed within 4 weeks of the event.

Note: Beginning in the 25/26 competition season, teams with unpaid purchase orders or unpaid event registrations that are 90 days past due will not be able to register for events.

Webcast

All live streams can be found on the Army JROTC STEM Youtube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@ArmyJROTCSTEM

Judging Format

• Digital Engineering Notebook Submissions 
  • Engineering notebooks will be submitted digitally for evaluation via a link found within the "My Account" panel of the team contact on RobotEvents.
  • The notebook submission deadline is Wednesday, December 17th, at 11:59 PM EST.
• In Person Team Interviews:
  • Team interviews will be conducted in-person at the event.
  •  All teams will have the opportunity to be interviewed at least once.  Some teams may receive second interviews if the Judges need additional information. 

Judges will be working in accordance with the Judge Guide, which states that "All teams being judged for an event should be judged in the same format to ensure consistency in the judging experience."   

Please refer to the Guide to Judging for all judging and Engineering Notebook information, criteria, procedures, rubrics, etc. 

2025-2026 A3 Robot Safety Award - Kalahari Classic 2026

One of our event sponsors, A3 Association for Advancing Automation, will be sponsoring a new award category, the Risk Assessment Safety Award.  We have worked with this sponsor over the last few weeks to ensure the submission process and judging process for this award closely aligns with current judging practices. 

The Risk Assessment Safety Award is separate from and in addition to the standard awards outlined in the Judge Guide.

Check out this document for more information and instructions. 

Online submission form...COMING SOON!

Payment

ARMY JROTC Teams Please Note: A large number of prepaid slots have been prepaid for Army JROTC teams.  When you register please mark "PAY LATER" as you check out.  Then please notifiy [email protected] that you are an Army JROTC team that has registered for the National Championship and he will go in and mark you paid if there are still prepaid slots remaining, or notifiy if if there are no prepaid slots remaining.

Registration fees are due by December 31st, 2025.  Any teams that fail to pay registration or submit a PO within these guidelines will be moved to the waitlist and the spot will be opened up to other teams.  

Note: Beginning in the 25/26 competition season, teams with unpaid purchase orders or unpaid event registrations that are 90 days past due will not be able to register for events.

Hotel Information

Hotel Information

Thank you for choosing the Kalahari Resort. Here is the information for your group to reserve through our online reservations system.

Reservation link:  Hotel Reservation Link

Once you click on the link, it will take you to the event pricing web page for this event. No passcode required this year!

**Please note, the rooms will be available online until the cutoff date or until the rooms are gone, whichever comes first. Please reach out if you have any issues with reserving your rooms** 

Important Reservation Information

Resort Fee of $24.99 is waived

Standard Run of the House Sleeping rooms will provide four (4) wristbands each day to the nation’s largest indoor water park, additional person in sleeping room at $25.00 each per day. Larger rooms will include a greater amount of wristbands.

Deposit policy for individual reservations: One night (plus tax) at the time the reservation is made. Cancellation policy for individual reservations: 72 hours, or more, prior to arrival to receive full refund less $25.00 processing fee. Less than 72 hours prior to scheduled arrival forfeits entire deposit.

Transportation Information

Concierge service located in Resort Lobby – individual pricing is available to guests to include Cleveland Hopkins Airport and local attractions shuttle.

General Information

Complimentary wireless internet for all guests in the hotel and meeting rooms.
Complimentary on-site, self-parking for all guests
20% off all services at Spa Kalahari for all guests.