VRC Heartland Regional Robotics Championship

Nebraska RoboticsIn an exciting development, VEX Robotics in Iowa and Nebraska will be partnering this season to hold the Heartland Regional Robotics Championship.  On February 26th & 27th, both Nebraska and Iowa will be sending their best teams to compete at Omaha North Magnet School for a chance to qualify for the World Championships. (Updated @ 11:15 am to include Middle School details).

You can find full event details for the High School division here: http://www.robotevents.com/re-vrc-16-4248.html

You can find full event details for the Middle School Division here:
http://www.robotevents.com/re-vrc-16-4250.html

You can find full event details for the CREATE Open Division here:
http://www.robotevents.com/re-create-16-4252.html

What does this mean?

The VRC Heartland Regional Robotics Championship will replace the State Championships that Nebraska and Iowa held on their own.  Forty-four of the best High School VEX Robotics teams from both states will compete for nine qualifying spots to compete at the World Championships.  The nine qualifying spots are achieved through the following awards:

  • Tournament Champions (3 teams)
  • Excellence Award Winner (1 team)
  • Design Award Winner (1 team)
  • Programming Skills Winner (1 team)
  • Programming Skills Finalist (1 team)
  • Robot Skills Champion (1 team)
  • Robot Skills Finalist (1 team)

The Middle School Division of the VRC Heartland Regional Robotics Championship is a similar setup, with some minor differences.  The Middle School tournament size will be 32 teams.  There will be five World qualifying spots that are achieved through the following awards:

  • Tournament Champions (3 teams)
  • Excellence Award Winner (1 team)
  • Programming Skills Champion (1 team)

If there are any duplicates in for the above awards in either division, the remaining open World Championship Qualifying spots will be filled by the top skills challenge Scores.

How do teams qualify for the Heartland Regional Robotics Championship?

The qualification process for the VRC Heartland Regional Robotics Championship is similar to the last season with State Championships.  The primary difference is, in past seasons only Nebraska tournaments qualified for the Nebraska State Championships (and vice versa).  Now VEX Robotics tournaments in both Nebraska and Iowa can qualify teams for the VRC Heartland Regional Robotics Championship.  The number of Regional qualifying spots at these tournaments depends on the size of the tournament:

Level 1: 16 – 23 teams will qualify up to 3 teams
Tournament Champions (2 teams)
Excellence Award winner (1 team)

Level 2: 24-59 teams will qualify up to 5 teams
Tournament Champions (3 teams)
Excellence Award winner(s) (1-2 teams) *
* The 2nd Excellence award is for mixed tournaments that host HS & MS. An excellence award can be given to one High School and Middle School team in those cases.

Level 3: 60+ teams will qualify up to 8 teams
Tournament Champions (3 teams)
Design Award winner (1 team)
Robot Skills Champion (1 team)
Programming Skills Champion (1 team)
Excellence Award winner(s) (1-2 teams) *
* The 2nd Excellence award is for mixed tournaments that host HS & MS. An excellence award can be given to one High School and Middle School team in those cases.

Skills Challenge will qualify 5+ teams
Skills rankings from all official events will be included in the VRC rankings.
The top 5 high school/middle school teams from both Nebraska and Iowa (5 total, not 5 from each State.) as of February 8th, 2016 in each skill challenge will be automatic qualifiers. (Pending availability additional teams may also qualify in order of ranking.)

In Summary

The regular season will be the similar to the past seasons.  VEX Robotics teams have come to expect a high level of competition that brings out the best in innovation and creativity.   We have seen a steady growth in teams and interest, with over 200 teams in both States between High School and Middle School.

No doubt, the VRC Heartland Regional Robotics Championship will send some of the best robots in the nation to compete at the World Championships.  We look forward to the amazing feats of engineering and design that Nebraska and Iowa students will achieve to gain that opportunity.

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