Monthly Archives: January 2018

Details on the Nebraska / Iowa VEX IQ Regional Championship

The Nebraska / Iowa VEX IQ Regional Championship will be held on Saturday, March 3rd.  Elementary and Middle School students from Iowa and Nebraska will come to this event using the VEX IQ Robotics Platform to compete in STEM challenges.

Just like a sports team, these students are motivated to achieve a goal.  They demonstrate determination, creativity and perseverance to overcome challenges.  Most importantly, they understand that hard work and commitment leads to greater success.

How to Register

All registered Iowa and Nebraska VEX IQ teams are eligible for the Regional Championship.  Coaches will need to visit the official event page to register for the Regional Championship by February 20th.  Please don’t hesitate to register at your earliest convenience.

What to Expect at the Regional Championship

This year, there’s been a significant increase in the number of VEX IQ teams eligible for the Nebraska / Iowa VEX IQ Regional Championship. With the increase of teams, we’ve moved to a larger venue at the St. Cecilia Cathedral Gym.   This will include ample space for students, competitions fields, parking and spectators.

To better handle the increase in teams, there will be three Teamwork competition fields and three Skills Challenge fields.  All fields will be raised to the same height as the World Championship fields, which is 18 inches.

The Design and Excellence Awards will be awarded at grade level, allowing Elementary and Middle School level teams their own opportunity to earn the awards.  We also intend to add three more awards and need input from all VEX IQ organizations in the region.  If you are a coach, please visit this coaches input form to help us decide which three awards we add to the Regional Championships.

We plan to send out more in depth emails in the following weeks about different areas of the Regional Championships, including: the event agenda, awards & judging, World Championship qualification, and more.

Closely following Event Documentation from REC

The following documentation is provided by the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation (REC), which will be closely followed at the Regional Championship.  Any clarifications for the event will be run by the Regional Support Manager, Kirk Norrid, as needed.  Here are those documents for your reference:

Do not hesitate to reach out to Tara Petersen at [email protected] and Brandon Petersen at [email protected] if you have any questions.

Event Details

Here’s a quick reference of the most important details at the Nebraska / Iowa VEX IQ Regional Championship:

  • Date of Competition:
    Saturday, March 3rd.  Starting at 8 am
  • Cost of Registration:
    $35 per VEX IQ Team
  • Registration Deadline:
    February 20th, 2018
  • Event Venue: 
    St. Cecilia Cathedral Gym, 3869 Webster St. Omaha, NE
  • Skills Attempt Limit:
    4 Max Driver attempts and 4 Max Programming attempts per team
  • Total Number of Qualification Matches per Team:
    8 Qualification matches
  • Total Number of Alliances in Finals:
    10 Alliances
  • Worlds Qualification Spots
    4 total Worlds Qualification Spots by earning one of the following: Middle School Excellence (1), Elementary School Excellence(1), Teamwork Champion (2)
  • Event Registration and Full Details: 
    https://www.robotevents.com/robot-competitions/vex-iq-challenge/RE-VIQC-17-3845.html

Feel Free to Share

Hopefully this email was helpful to new and veteran teams.  Please share this with anyone interested, if they wish to be added to the list they send an email to [email protected]

Have suggestions on additional topics that should be shared with the regional VEX IQ community?  Don’t hesitate to send us a note.

Tara and Brandon Petersen