Updated August 21, 2024
Introduction
Judging is an important part of Robotics Education and Competition Foundation (REC Foundation) programs. Through the judging process, students have opportunities to practice both written and verbal communication skills, as well as demonstrate the values espoused in our Code of Conduct and Student Centered policies. Some awards may also qualify teams to higher levels of competition.
The purpose of this document is to provide the following:
- Policies and procedures for the judging process
- Criteria and descriptions for awards
- Descriptions of the roles of Judges, Judge Advisors, and Event Partners
- Additional tools and materials to conduct the judging process
This document applies to all events that include Judged Awards for the Aerial Drone Competition. The goal is to help improve the judging experience for teams, volunteers, and event organizers, as well as increase consistency of the judging process across event regions.
Questions can be asked on the official Judging Q&A. Only the current season’s Q&A responses are valid. Q&As from past seasons should be ignored.
Key Terms, Definitions, and Links
Autonomous Flight Skills Match
A Match where a drone is programmed by students to operate entirely autonomously earning points to complete tasks. Each team is given the opportunity to have 2 - five minute sessions at the field to complete up to three Autonomous Flight Skills Mission runs each session.
Competition Logbook – The document submitted by a team. Logbooks are sorted by Judges, and some will be evaluated according to a rubric.
Developing - An evaluation state for Competition Logbooks that contain little detail.
Event Partner (EP) – The Tournament Coordinator who serves as an overall manager for the volunteers, venue, event materials, and all other event considerations. Event Partners serve as the official liaison between the REC Foundation, the event volunteers, and event attendees.
Elimination Matches – A Match used in the process of determining the champion Alliance and occurs after Qualification Matches.
Fully Developed - An evaluation state for the Competition Logbook that contains great detail, including detailed drawings, testing, test results, and solutions to problems the team encountered.
Individual Recognition Awards – Awards that are given to a particular individual rather than a team. An example would be “Volunteer of the Year”.
Judge – Person who interacts with teams at an event to help determine winners of judged awards. Those who perform this role online are known as Remote Judges.
Judge Advisor – The coordinator of all Judges at an event. They are responsible for organizing Judge volunteers, guiding deliberations, and relaying the judged award results for the Event Partner/Tournament Manager Operator.
Judged Awards – Awards that are determined by Judges at an event based on standardized criteria and descriptions. An example would be the “Think” award.
Performance Awards – Awards based solely on a team’s on-field performance. Examples would be the Teamwork Champion Award or Skills Champion Award.
Qualifying Award - An award that will qualify a team to a higher level of competition, such as a Regional Championship. The precedence of Qualifying Awards is listed in the REC Foundation Qualifying Criteria document. Not all awards at an event may be Qualifying Awards.
Qualifying Event – An event is considered “Qualifying” if it meets all of the requirements in the Qualifying Criteria. Certain Performance and Judged award winners at Qualifying events will qualify to the next level of competition, such as a region championship.
Qualification Matches – Matches in which teams are randomly partnered and share a score – all qualification matches factor into a team’s ranking for the event and determine which teams move on to Finals Matches. The exact ranking methodology is found in the Game Manual.
RECF/ REC Foundation – Acronym for Robotics Education & Competition Foundation, the organization which oversees the competition aspects of the Aerial Drone Competition.
Regional Support Manager (RSM) - The RSM is an REC Foundation staff member who oversees team and event support for a given region. The contact information for a region’s RSM can be found in the REC Library Article “Getting Help and Support”.
Team Interview – An interview, typically 10-15 minutes in duration, during which students on a team are interviewed by Judges. Teams demonstrate their ability to explain their game strategy, safety plans and programming skills. The information shared in this interview and the Judge’s notes become the basis for award nominations and deliberations.
Tournament Manager - The competition software that is used at events to run and score matches, assign award winners, and print out reports using scoring data from the event.
Key Links
REC Foundation Code of Conduct
REC Foundation Student-Centered Policy
Judging Q&A
Judge Advisor / Judge Training & Certification Course (coming soon)
Updates & Changelog
This document may be updated on December 15. Any significant changes will be listed below.
Continue to the next section, Guide to Judging Part 2: Judging Principles