VEX Robotics College Challenge has arrived!

[Jason Morrella]

We are proud to announce the pilot season for the VEX Robotics Competition College Challenge. This year there will be one single event - the VRC College Challenge World Championship in Dallas, April 30 - May 2, 2009. The event will be a 24-36 team championship and is open to the first 36 schools that complete registration (teams affiliated with a Post Secondary Education Institution).

Registration and other details are now available at http://robotevents.com/college (http://robotevents.com/event.php?eid=1226). The specific rules for the College Challenge can be found on the VEX Elevation Competition page, where an appendix (F) solely for the College Challenge is now posted along with the rest of the game documentation.

We are very excited about the future of this program and can't wait to see which school takes the crown as the 2009 VEX Robotics College World Champion. See you in Dallas!

[talltree357]

Hi, my robotics organization at Temple University wants to register but I couldn't find a link on how to register for this specific event. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

[corpralchee]

Awesome! I love it, now to get my college to compete...

[Jason Morrella]

Hi, my robotics organization at Temple University wants to register but I couldn't find a link on how to register for this specific event. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

The event registration page can be found at:
http://robotevents.com/college

Registration will open this Friday. We've already received 12 requests from schools asking to hold a spot, so it does look like the College Challenge Championship might fill up fast for this pilot season. It even looks like a number of international universities are going to enter teams, which is very cool. I doubt all 36 spots will fill up in the first few days and would imagine that any schools who register in the next week or so shouldn't have any trouble getting in. Can't wait to see the Temple University team in Dallas.

[lyncas]

The event registration page can be found at:
http://robotevents.com/college

Registration will open this Friday. We've already received 12 requests from schools asking to hold a spot

"hold a spot" = "register without paying"

If 40 teams "hold a spot" , could some teams lose their spot if they don't pay before one of the other teams ?

Would VEX alert teams when registration gets to 20 and 30 teams so college teams can decide when to pay?

[lyncas]

The rules look wide open for the college competition,
http://www.vexrobotics.com/docs/vex-elevation/elevation-appendix-f-vrc-college-challenge.10132008.pdf

Build a team of 2 robots
1 minute autonomous
Use the VEXnet wireless instead of standard 72Mhz
Use 2 VEX controllers on one robot
High School students can't drive the robot, only students enrolled at the University can drive
2 batteries per one controller = 4 batteries with 2 controllers
4 batteries could roughly control 20 motors/servos per robot

[Kyle Love]

Just when I thought my robot competition (from the student point of view) days were over, this comes along. This will be a fun time, for sure.

[talltree357]

I have a question again. I registered without paying, since our school works on a reimbursement system it works out better for our team. However, I have yet to receive a confirmation email from Robot Events. I have the print out saying I registered but no email. I also emailed Robot Events and no reply so far(it's been about 4 days). Any advice to what I should do? My team really is looking forward to this and would hate to see it spoiled.

[Jason Morrella]

I have a question again. I registered without paying, since our school works on a reimbursement system it works out better for our team. However, I have yet to receive a confirmation email from Robot Events. I have the print out saying I registered but no email. I also emailed Robot Events and no reply so far(it's been about 4 days). Any advice to what I should do? My team really is looking forward to this and would hate to see it spoiled.

Nothing to worry about. Your email went to me, but I was on travel in Houston from Friday until yesterday, so I'm still getting caught up on emails (sorry about the wait).

Anyway, to answer your question and also Andrew's earlier question, there are no spots "held" for any teams. That earlier post was just a reference that a lot of schools had contacted us to let us know they wanted to participate and they wanted to register before the registration page was actually opened. Now that the registration is open all teams can sign up online, there's no other process to get a spot. Teams can register online and either pay at that time or make a payment later. The spots are finalized once payment is received. We'll give teams updates as the spots fill up and how many spots are left, so teams that haven't paid yet will know if there is some urgency to do so.

I hope that helps. You can continue to look forward to the College Challenge - it should be a great competition!