Agenda

Here is the tentiative event day agenda. Please note that this is subject to change before and during the event.
Last Updated 12/12/25 - Planning to run 9 matches / team

7:30 AM - Doors open / Team Check-In / Inspections / Volunteer Arrival
8:00 AM - Practice Field and Skills Open
9:30 AM - Inspection Closes / Drivers Meeting / Opening Ceremonies
9:45 AM - Qualification Matches Begin
12:00 PM - Lunch Break (Skills reopens 12:30 PM)
1:00 PM - Qualification Matches Resume
2:30 PM - Elimination Matches Begin / Awards throughout elimination
~4:00 PM - Closing Ceremonies / Teardown and Cleanup

Volunteer

Running these competitions requires all the help we can get and we are always looking for more volunteers! Volunteers will receive a volunteer shirt and will be provided limited breakfast, lunch, and snacks for the day. We have many different needs from simply sitting at a table helping check in teams, to being more involved as like a scorekeeping referee.
 
If you are interested in volunteering, please fill out this form. Please reach out to the Event Partner if you have any other questions. 

Walk-in volunteering will be accommodated on a first-come first-serve basis. Kids are welcome to help as field resetters.
 

Emergency/Bad Weather Policy

In the rare case that some kind of emergency situation, bad weather, or other extunatiing circumstance that is out of our control, occurs during or before the scheduled competition day, and warrents the cancelation of the event, the Event Partner will cancel the event. Please see the Refund and Payment Policy tab for more information should this rare case arise in the future.

Refund and Payment Policies

Full payment is due 1 week prior to the event unless an alternate payment method has been discussed with the primary coach/mentor of the team and the Event Partner. After this, unpaid teams will be moved to the waitlist allowing other teams a chance to attend the event. In this case, the EP will reach out to the teams on the waitlist to confirm whether they are still interested in the event. Waitlisted teams will be added in the order of those who have attended fewer competitions and then to those registered to the waitlist earlier. A team selected from the waitlist will have 24 hrs from the timestamp of the reminder email to confirm attendance and pay the registration fee.

If the Event Partner cancels the event: 
All teams currenty regisitered will recieve a full refund minus the $5 RobotEvents' processing fees. These refunds will be sent out roughly a month following the intended event date.

If a Coach/Mentor completes registration for the event then chooses to withdraw or not attend:
If a team completes registration for the event and decides to withdraw less than 1 week before the event or the team decides not to attend the day of the competition, they will not receive a refund. This is a hard deadline.

Teams running late should immediately inform the Event Partner or notify someone already at the event who can relay this information to the Event Partner. Extenuating circumstances will be handled on a case-by-case basis at the sole discretion of the Event Partner.
Please contact the EP with any questions or to discuss alternate forms of payment.

Health and Safety Policies

We're thrilled to have you attend our event! Below are some guidelines that must be followed:

NOTE: This event takes place on the University of Illinois Campus. All attendees, including but not limited to students, coaches, competition volunteers, and spectators, must always adhere to University Policies and Guidelines as well as all City of Urbana / Champaign laws while attending. Failure to do so may result in removal from the event.

While attending the event, take special care of team and personal materials during the event as there will be many people in attendance. By registering for this event, you agree that you are solely responsible for your personal and team items. You are acknowledging that Illini Vex Robotics, Competition Representatives, the Siebel Center for Design, Volunteers, Sponsors, the University of Illinois, and other associated parties not listed here, will not be held liable for any lost, stolen, or damaged personal or team items. 

If you witness any suspicious activity of any sort, immediately inform the Event Partner, Pit Admin, or other competition staff. If you or others are in immediate danger dial 911 and notify the Event Partner immediately.

Please exercise caution when entering or exiting the building and traveling around campus for lunch.

If experiencing any symptoms like fever, cough, sore throat, or fatigue, we encourage you to rest and recover at home.

Robots will be everywhere. Wash your hands frequently with soap and water or use hand sanitizer, especially after touching common surfaces, and before eating any food.

Date: 13-Dec-2025

Travel Info

Please plan your trip to this event accordingly and leave as early as possible! We cannot wait for you if you are late.

More information regarding bus drop-off, bus parking, and general parking to come.

Webcast

Can't make it to the tournament? Don't miss out on the action! We are thrilled to be able to livestream the entire competition on our Youtube channel! Stay tuned for our MCs hosting the livestream as they bring the event atmosphere to you.

LIVESTREAM CHANNEL:  Illini VEX Robotics - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QooD3RAUiRQ

Judging Format

Teams must submit a digital copy of their engineering notebook to RobotEvents. We also recommend that you include with your Engineering Notebook the Innovate Award form (which will be provided upon check-in) to be considered for this award and other awards at this event.

Notebook entries are due 1 week prior to the event, on December 6th @ Noon CST.

Submissions for the Innovate Award must be done using the Innovate Award Submission Information Form or an exact recreation of that form, including all questions, answers, and all other form information. This can be included by the team in one of two places:

• Immediately after the cover page of the team’s Engineering Notebook. In the case of physical notebooks, this form can be printed out and placed in the notebook. For digital notebooks, this form can be scanned in and included.
• In a clearly labeled section in their Engineering Notebook. In this instance, teams should take care to date all entries and arrange them chronologically, fully filling out the information required on the Innovate Award Submission Form. Judges are to only consider the entry in this section that aligns with the event name / date.

Judging will be conducted in-person. Upon the start of qualification matches teams will be able to head over to one of several judging booths to be interviewed. Please note, teams must go to judging when they are able, judges will not come to the teams for first round interviews. Remember, you must have a skills score to be considered for any judged awards. See this guide for more information about all the judged awards.

Food and Concessions

Vending machines are located in the basement, near the ramp exit towards the restrooms.

Remember to clean up your food and trash to help keep SCD clean.

For other options, head over to Green Street (a few blocks north of SCD) for a variety of different restaurants. Remember to return to the SCD before matches resume. We cannot wait for you if you are late!

Building Layout

A refernece layout of the building and the competition layout will be provided closer to the event date.

Smart Field Robot Preparation

We will be using the Smart Field Control system for running our matches for both qualification and skills. Two requirements are making sure your robot firmware is up-to-date and the team number is correctly set to allow the field controller to identify your robot when you connect to the field.

Updating Firmware (Required)

Double check the robot brain is up to date with the latest version of VEXos. To check, power on your robot and navigate to Devices → Brain Icon and see the version number on the right. It should read “VEXos 1.1.5”.

If you are on an older version of VEXos, connect your robot to your laptop used to program. Navigate to the update utility: for PROS users, go to the quick actions toolbar in VSCode and click on V5 Brain → Update VEXos and follow the pop-up prompts on the bottom right. If using the VEX Robotics VSCode Extension, an option to update will be provided in the Vex Device Info Panel, usually on the left side of VSCode window.

Changing Team Number (Required)

Double check that your robot has your team number correctly set to allow the field control to identify your robot when you connect to the field control. To check, power on your robot and navigate to Devices → Brain Icon and see the team number on the top left. Your team number should be present.

If your team number is not listed there, or a different team is listed, connect your robot to your laptop used to program. If using PROS, go to the quick actions toolbar and click on V5 Brain → Set Team Number. If using the VEX Robotics VSCode Extension, go to the Vex Device Info Panel → V5 Brain → Brain → system and hover over the team number. An edit icon will appear on the right.

Click the icon. For both options, an input field will appear on the top of your screen. Enter your team number as you are registered with and the capital letter of your team (ie. 12345A). Do not add any whitespace. Press enter and double check on the robot.

Changing Team Number (Optional)

The VEX brain also allows you to change the robot name. This is not required and has no effect on the robot. Look for the Set Robot Name option, which can be found near the Set Team Number options listed above.

What if I Don't Use VEX VSCode or PROS?

Other programming softwares and the web-based programming tool will have similar locations for updating VEXos and changing the team number.