Image from VEX Robotics.
T minus one day and counting. Today starts my first full day at the 2011 VEX Robotics World Championship. I’ll be helping to set up the field controllers and tournament manager computers, and tying down any loose ends. Everything should be set up and ready to go by 7pm tonight.
A few early birds will be able to check-in and set up their pits from 2-6:30pm today. Check-in and robot inspection will start up tomorrow at 7:30 am, practice fields open at 9am, and the first qualifying rounds begin at 3pm.
The VRC World Championships has grown since last year. There are four high school divisions: Science, Technology, Education, and Math, each with 104 teams. Middle school teams have their own division also with 104 teams. Also present are 36 VEX college teams, 24 BEST Robotics Competition teams, and about 8 teams from the US. Coast Guard Academy Robotics on the Water competition.
Don’t forget that admission is free to the general public, so if you’re in the area, please stop in! I can’t explain how awesome it is to see so many kids fired up for robotics. It is just one of those things you have to see to understand. The competition really heats up during the division elimination matches. The best teams from each division will go on to compete in the main arena on Saturday afternoon.
Stay tuned for more 2011 VRC World Championships news and follow along live on Twitter @VEXRobotics and the VEX Facebook page. Match schedules, scores, and rankings will be updated real-time on the Robot Events World Championship page. Video of each division will be broadcast live on UStream on the RECF-VEX Channel.
If you are tweeting about the competition, please use the hashtags #vexworlds and #vexbots so we can track what people are saying.
