Agenda

Friday January 9th 2026:

7: AM             Pit area and inspections open.
8:00 AM         Skills open 
9:00 AM         Check in closes* 
9:30 AM         Inspection closes
9:30  AM        Opening ceremony
10:00 AM       Qualification rounds - 3 Minute 30 Second Cycle Time 
5:00 PM         Pause qualifications
. 

*All teams need to be checked in by 9:00 AM on Friday or in contact with the event coordinator. Teams that have not checked in by that time will not be allowed to participate. 

Saturday January 10th 2026:

7:00 AM       Venue opens
9:00 AM       Qualifications resume
2:30 PM       End skills 
2:30 PM       End qualifications - 3 Minute 30 Second Cycle Time 
2:45 PM       Alliance selection
3:00 PM       Division Elimination rounds
4:00 PM       Final Match
5:00 PM       End of Event

Volunteer

Welcome, it takes a lot of volunteers to make this a successful event. Thank you for volunteering. No experience necessary to volunteer, come help out and join in the fun. Please feel free to sign up for multiple shifts, duties.  Parents, family and freinds associated with teams make for amazing volunteers, and it is far more rewarding to volunteer than to simply watch the event. As an added bonus, volunteers receive food and an event T-shirt!

To volunteer - please use this link:https://signup.com/go/NSTftbh 

If you have further questions about volunteering, please contact:

Andrew Dahlen   - Cell 218-791-4010 - Email: [email protected]

Emergency/Bad Weather Policy

Teams are advised to watch robotevents.com for weather or emergency related cancellations.   If the tournament must be cancelled or postponed, the name of the tournament will change to cancelled or postponed.  In the event of a cancellation or postponement, teams will be sent additional information via Email. 

Please call Andrew Dahlen 218-791-4010 if you have questions.

Refund and Payment Policies

If the Event Partner cancels the event: 

This situation is highly unlikely and an 80% refund will be provided.

If a Coach/Mentor completes registration for the event then chooses to withdraw or not attend:

Teams must pay their registration fee two week prior to this event. Unpaid teams will not be allowed to compete.  Once a team has paid the registration fee, no refunds will be given.

Date: 9-Jan-2026 - 10-Jan-2026

Travel Info

Check out the Where to Stay and Travel tools on Visit Greater Grand Forks:

https://www.visitgrandforks.com/where-to-stay/

https://www.visitgrandforks.com/travel-tools/

Airports

GFK - Grand Forks International Airport: https://gfkairport.com/ - 6.5 Miles to Alerus Center

FAR - Hector International Airport - https://www.fargoairport.com/ - 75 Miles to Alerus Center

Hotels

Hotel attached to Alerus Center:

CANAD INNS DESTINATION CENTER GRAND FORKS

1000 South 42nd St, Grand Forks, North Dakota, 58201

855-516-1090

Webcast

Event will be livestreamed on VIMEO.  Here is a link https://vimeo.com/event/5627773/embed/interaction

Judging Format

All In-Person Judging - The Team Interviews and Engineering Notebooks will be judged in-person the day of the event. Teams should bring a physical copy of their notebook to submit to the judges.

Payment

Please know that unpaid registrations will will be given two weeks from the date of registration to arrange payment.  Signature events fill up quickly and typically have a long waiting list eager to get registered.   After two weeks, unpaid teams will receive notification via email and be moved to the waitlist loosing their reserved spot. We understand that it can take some time to make payment, and some flexibility can be earned with good communication.  

Signature Event Early Bird Policy

• All Signature Events will have a specific Early Bird Registration that is independent of all local/regional Early Bird systems.

  • Each team starts the season with three (3) opportunities to register during the Signature Event Early-Bird period.

    • A Signature Event Early-Bird opportunity is not taken away if a team registers for a tournament hosted by their school or organization (where the team’s coach is the Event Partner).

    • If a team registers during the Standard Registration period, a token is not taken away.

• The official Signature Event Early Bird policy can be found in the RECF Library.

• To find out how many Signature Event Early Bird tokens your team(s) have remaining, select the "My Teams" option in RobotEvents.