This year Fox Valley Robotics/Batavia Robotics is hosting three robotics events:

FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) Batavia where Kids in middle and high school participated to qualify for regional was on Feb 12 Sunday.

  • VEX Skills Challenge, this Sunday, Feb 19. Teams will be coming in to run their robots both autonomously and driver controlled.  We are looking for refs for this event.
  • Illinois VEX State Competition for 36 teams on March 11 Saturday. By this date, several other qualifiers and  skills challenge events will have determined which teams would attend this state competition. Kids in high school participate.
  • These events will be held at Rotolo Middle School (1501 S. Raddant Road) in Batavia for a fun and challenging day of robotics.

In order to make this a fun day for the teams, parents, coaches, and mentors, there are many things which must happen.

Critical components to the success of the day are the judges and referees.

We are looking for people to fill these positions.

Would you be interested in helping out at any of these events as a judge or referee?

Here is a summary on how it works:

The week before the event in an evening (7-8:30 pm) all the judges and referees get together to go over what happens and to hand out training materials. We encourage everyone to attend. If you cannot make it, we will post the info on our web site.

The week of the event you review at your pace the information related to your assigned role.

With the materials that we provide,  no prior experience is required if you are new to this.

 

For the judges —

Each set of judges (2 or 3 people) will see a designated number of teams. There will be multiple sets of judges.

The judges then deliberate on what teams should be looked at further for a variety of awards.

The judges will go out to the pits to talk to the teams and to the playing field to observe the matches.

Sometime in the afternoon behind closed doors, the judges will determine the winners of the awards.

If your schedule permits, the judges will hand out the awards to the team during the final matches and at closing ceremonies.

 

For the referees —

2-4 referees are assigned to each field with a head referee moving from match to match.

The referees will have the teams put the robots on the practice field to ensure that they operate properly. At this time, the head referee will clarify any questions that you might have in regards to the rules and can do some practice scoring.

The referees are responsible for the rules and filling in the score sheets for the matches.

 

As a token of our appreciation for your time, all volunteers in key positions are invited for coffee, juice, and pastries in the morning and to a great lunch. Free refreshments and snacks are available through-out the day.

 

Location

Rotolo Middle School

1501 S. Raddant Road

Batavia, IL.

 

We would be honored if you would consider volunteering for one or more of these exciting events.

If you know anyone else who might be interested, please pass this email along to them or let me know.

Along with judges and referees, we are looking for people in several other areas.

 

You can either reply to this email or we have a short form that can be filled out where you indicate your position choice, or to let us know that you can’t make it this time.

http://www.foxvalleyrobotics.com/volunteer

A follow up email will provide more information and detail on these great events.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Ron Karabowicz, Regional Coordinator via email.