TURNING TEAM HANDBOOK - 2019 New Zealand VRC National Championships - Robot Events
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2019 New Zealand VRC National
Championships
TEAM HANDBOOK
TURNING
P O I N T
Welcome
Welcome to the 2019 New Zealand Nationals Team Handbook! This document aims
to provide all of the necessary information for teams about the upcoming National
Championships. If you have any queries regarding this event, please send Chris Hamling
an email at c.hamling@kiwibots.co.nz or contact us via Facebook
Registration
Registration for the 2019 Nationals event will close at 23:59 Saturday 16th February 2019.
Please make sure your team is registered by this deadline as teams will not be able to
attend the 2019 Nationals if they have not registered. Registration can be completed
from https://www.robotevents.com/robot-competitions/vex-robotics-competition/RE-
VRC-18-6174.html and only takes a few minutes.
A full list of teams attending the 2019 Nationals competition can be found at the above
RobotEvents link. If you have registered and do not appear on this list please contact
KIWIBOTS to ensure that the registration has been completed successfully.
Team Check In
All teams are required to check in on Friday 22th February in order to be able to compete;
the venue is open between 14:00 and 17:00 and check in must occur during this period.
Teams will not be allowed to enter the venue before 14:00; and will have to wait outside
beforehand. It will be necessary to bring your robot along on Friday so that it can be
inspected and photographed alongside a student team member so that the judges can
quickly identify you for judging.
It is important that teams who come for check-in to have their parking pass to allow them
to park near the hall. Teams without a valid parking pass will not be able to park inside
Lynfield College and will have quite a walk to get the robot to the venue for inspection.
Parking passes can be found at the end of this booklet
The whole team is not required for the check-in, however one team member must come
along to accompany the robot for this process. The robot will need to undergo a VEXnet
software test, as per the inpsection process, to make sure the motors will follow field
control instructions so the joystick(s) and batteries will need to accompany the robot.
Location
The national championships will be held at Lynfield College’s main sports hall (not the hall
used at current Lynfield events). The entrance will be through the main gym entrance and
free parking is available next to the venue at the netball courts.
2
Schedule
Below is the schedule for the 2019 New Zealand National Championships. It is important to
note the opening and closing time of the venue to teams, as due to health and safety reasons,
teams will not be permitted inside the venue and will be asked to leave outside these hours.
Friday 22th February
14:00 Venue opens to teams
Team check in and skills fields open
Teams will not be permitted access into the venue before 14:00
17:00 Check in and inspection closes
Teams who have not checked in by this time will not be included in the
match schedule
17:30 Venue closes to teams
Saturday 23rd February
08:30 Venue open to teams
09:00 Opening Ceremony
09:30 Drivers & Coaches Meeting
10:15 Qualification Matches begin
Robots which have not passed inspection will not be able to compete in
any matches or skills runs
Skills fields open
13:00 Lunch
No skills runs may be performed during this period
14:00 Matches resume
16:00 Matches conclude for the day
Skills fields close
16:30 Venue closes to teams
Sunday 24th February
08:30 Venue open to teams
Skills fields open
09:00 Matches begin
13:15 Qualification matches finish
Skills fields close for competition
Lunch break
13:45 Award presentations & Alliance Selection
14:30 Elimination matches begin
Award presentations
15:50 Grand Finals
16:30 Event Finishes
17:00 Venue closes to the public
3
Matches
Match schedules will be delivered to team pits on Saturday morning and will also be
available online from VEX VIA and RobotEvents. These matches will run on time for the
duration of the event and it will be your own responsibility to appear to the competition
area on time. As the event is running to a tight schedule, it is the teams responsibility to
arrive to the field on time with charged batteries, pumped pneumatics as matches will
start on time even if your robot is not ready. We will also not wait for teams who are not
in the competition area on time and the match will continue without the robot. There will
be one division at the 2019 National Championships.
Robot Requirements
As per the robot rules which will be enforced during the inspection process, all robots
must have number plates on at least two opposing faces. Teams will need to ensure that
they use the correct colour number plates on their robots for each game. Drive team
members cannot be switched between teams and must remain a drive team member for
one specific team for the entire duration of the event; this includes coaches who will also
be limited to coaching one team (robot) only.
Drive your own Robot. Each team shall include up to three Drive Team Members. No Drive
Team Member may fulfill this role for more than one Team in a given competition season. (VEX
Turning Point Manual)
Drive Team Member – Any of the three (3) Students allowed in the Alliance Station during a Match
for each team. Only Drive Team Members are allowed to touch the controls at any time during the
Match, interact with the Robot as per , and interact with Scoring Objects as per .
Adults are not allowed to be Drive Team Members
Competition Area
For health and safety concerns as well as to ensure the matches will run to schedule, the
competition fields area will be restricted to drive team members who have been queued
to a field, volunteers, judges and VIPs only. Anyone else will not be allowed into this area
under any circumstances during times allocated for matches.
4Health and Safety
To ensure compliance with the current health and safety laws there are some rules in
place which all teams must follow. It is the responsibility of each team to be careful and
act appropriately at the event. Particularly with launching mechanisms and the danger of
flying objects, the following rules have been imposed:
• No running inside the venue at any time, including skills, pit and competition areas.
• Safety glasses and closed in shoes will be required to be worn in both competition and
pit area at all times. Safety glasses are not required in general seating. It is the team’s
responsibility to provide their own safety glasses.
• Restricted access to the competition and pit areas (team members must sign the
consent form to have access to the pit area).
• All first aid incidents must be reported to the KIWIBOTS National Manager (Chris
Hamling).
• Team members must follow the instructions of volunteers and event staff at all times
during the event.
Consent and Health & Safety Forms
Everyone attending the Nationals will need to accept and sign the VEX Consent form in
order to be able to be granted access into the venue, this includes mentors, teachers and
parents who will be in the team pit zone. General public who are just coming to watch
from the general seating zone do not need to sign a consent form but accept they could
be photographed by KIWIBOTS photographers. Consent forms can be obtained from
https://www.robotevents.com/season/125/document/58/download. Consent forms can
be completed online via RobotEvents or printing off the form at the end of the above
document.
When a team is checked in, the team leader/teacher in charge will need to hand in all of
the consent forms for the team to the registration volunteers and sign an additional form
indicating they agree that all members in their team have signed and agree to the consent
form. Schools will be responsible for ensuring all team members have signed the consent
form.
If a team member does not sign or agree to the consent form, they will be unable to
participate in the Nationals competition and enter the pit or competition zones.
5Volunteer/Teacher/Mentor of the Year Awards
Has there been a mentor or teacher that has stood out to you and helped you? Maybe
a volunteer who has made the extra effort to help your team at an event or just been
great to deal with. If this is the case, we would be very interested to hear and we ask that
you nominate them for an award. We will be accepting these via online entry and these
can be found at https://goo.gl/forms/X7OYtkWuSfRT7abi2. Please feel free to nominate
multiple people as it will help us to reward those for all of their effort.
Design Award
Teams who have been selected for Design Award Interviews will be advised before the
event start that they have been selected for an interview. Teams will be allocated an
interview time on Saturday morning once the match schedules have been prepared
to ensure their interview times do not collide with a match. Team mentors may attend
these interviews but may not speak or contribute during the interview. The winner of
the Design Award will qualify for the 2019 VEX Robotics World Championships. Design
notebooks must be submitted by Friday 16th February 2019 to be considered for the
National Championships.
Excellence Award
Those teams who complete Robot Skills at the Nationals and enter the Design Award
will be shortlisted for the Excellence Award. They will be interviewed and observed
throughout the Nationals event by different judges. Teams will be allocated interview
times in between their matches. Mentors will be allowed to attend these interviews but
may not speak or contribute during the interview. The winner of the Excellence Award will
qualify for the 2019 VEX World Championships.
Robot Skills Champions
The total robot skills score is calculated from the best programming skills score and the
best robot (driver) skills score. KIWIBOTS will be implementing a priority queue at the
2019 NZ Nationals and each team will be give 5 priority runs throughout the event which
enable them to skip the normal queue for skills challenges. Teams are not limited on the
number of skills challenges they complete but once they have exhausted their allocated
skill runs they will need to wait in line to complete skills. These 5 priority runs are for either
driver or programming skills (there are NOT 5 for programming and 5 for driver skills).
As the skills fields will get busy during the competition we advise teams to get in and do
skills early. The skills fields will be open on Friday during registration & inspection and
teams can run challenges; however, they must have passed inspection first. If teams leave
all five of their priority runs to the last day, they could risk missing out.
6Battery Chargers
Only official VEX battery chargers will be permitted at the National Championships for
robot batteries. Any other type of charger is strictly prohibited unless it has been pre-
approved by KIWIBOTS or a nominated representative before the 2019 Nationals. Please
contact KIWIBOTS if you are interesting in getting the charger approved.
iii. The only legal means for charging a VEX 7.2V Battery Pack is via one of the following VEX
Battery Chargers: Smart Charger, 276-1445; Smart Charger v2, 276-2519; 276-2221(discontinued),
276-2235 (discontinued). All other chargers are strictly prohibited. (VEX Turning Point Manual)
Food
Onsite food will be provided by Lynfield College; food however is not permitted inside
the venue at any time and teams will have to eat outside. Water fountains are available
around the venue and water is permitted inside. It is advised to bring cash to the event
for food and drink.
Live Stream
The 2019 Nationals will be streamed live onto YouTube. All matches available along with
the opening and closing ceremonies should be available from the stream.
Best of One
The 2019 Nationals will use Best of One (BO1) for elimination matches and all teams
should be aware of this. There will be sixteen (16) elimination alliances consisting of two
(2) VRC teams at the event.
Electrical Testing
No equipment will be allowed to plugged into venue mains power unless it has a current
electrical PAT test certificate, examples of which are shown below. Electrical gear can be
tested during the event, however this will incur a gold coin donation to the volunteer
fund per test. It is advised that organisations get these tested beforehand. A number of
schools perform this on a yearly basis already so please check any equipment.
7Carpark
There is netball courts located next to the gym and further parking avaible within the
school. It is advised that people only park in the areas marked in white in the below
carpark photo. Please remember to display your permit in your dashboard so that security
know to leave your car alone. Parking outside of these white zones is not permitted. On
the Friday afternoon teams will need to show their permit to park near the gym as school
traffic will be present and without a permit teams will not be able to park nearby. Parking
permits can be found at the end of the handbook.
WiFi
Wireless communication is not permitted inside the main competition area/team pits as
it runs the risk of interfering with VEXnet communication or other essential competition
equipment. If teams require the use of WiFi they are welcome to do so outside in the
break zone. Teams found running wireless hotspots inside the competition area may be
disqualified.
Pneumatics at Fields
It will be the responsibility of the teams to pump up any pneumatic tanks they use. These
will need to be fully charged before teams arrive onto the field as they will not be able to
fill on field. There will also be spot inspections to make sure teams are only filling to 100
PSI (690 KPa/6.9 Bar) as per the rules.
89
Participant
Carparking Permit -
Lynfield College
Please place in the dashboard of your
car while parked at Lynfield College.
Cars without this permit shown may be
towed or removed at owners expense
Name:
Phone:
Registration:
KIWIBOTS New Zealand Valid from 22/02/2019 to 24/02/2019
Participant
Carparking Permit -
Lynfield College
Please place in the dashboard of your
car while parked at Lynfield College.
Cars without this permit shown may be
towed or removed at owners expense
Name:
Phone:
Registration:
KIWIBOTS New Zealand Valid from 22/02/2019 to 24/02/2019You can also read
