South Texas VEX - Feb 22nd

The South Texas VEX Regional team list is out:
http://www.robotevents.com/south-texas-regional-toss-up.html

We also have a VEX IQ event:
http://www.robotevents.com/south-texas-add-it-up.html

and a TEX VEX U event:
[http://www.robotevents.com/tex-vex-u-toss-up.html

Thank you to the Robonauts and Clear Creek ISD for hosting this event. We invite people all around Texas to attend !](http://www.robotevents.com/tex-vex-u-toss-up.html )

It is interesting. 4080A will go to South Region. North region has only 9 teams so far.

We are hoping to complete our FIRST robot in time to be able to work on the VEX team. All our robots are in desperate need of new motors and gears. Four tournaments have definitely worn them out.

2158 is also splitting its teams between the two events.

Hopefully North Texas gets its numbers up to 24 by Feb 22nd.
http://www.robotevents.com/re-vrc-14-1065.html

Hi, Andrew,

South Region has 10 teams which could qualify for World Comp, but North has only 5 teams. Do you know why?

I’m not sure why Dallas only has 5 spots.

Either way, I wouldn’t worry too much, teams that are putting up the top skills scores will have a very high probability of making World Championship.

Texas will have 23 spots and teams with high skills will be given a priority in getting any WC spots unfilled.

Not from Texas, but can I ask a question here?

Are you saying that Texas will be sending 23 teams to the World Championships regardless of tournament outcome? So say a team won State, and got the Excellence award. They could only use one spot, but won two. Does their second spot go to another team?

At our state tournament, there are a total of 11 awards that will be presented (all with World qualifying spots) but we (IN) have 14 World Qualifying spots available. Here are the awards:

Excellence Award HS (1)
Excellence Award MS (1)
Champions - 3 team alliance (3)
Finalist - 3 team alliance (3)
Robot Skills (1)
Programming Skills (1)
Design Award (1)

So now we have 3 spots remaining after the awards have been presented. To use the remaining 3 spots, Indiana gives 2 of the 3 spots to the 2nd ranked teams in both skills challenges, and also the 3rd ranked team in the programming skills challenge. So basically, we need to either get an award, or 2nd/3rd in Programming or 2nd in Drivers. That’s how we will get to Worlds from State.

That’s how IN is doing it. I’m not sure about the others :slight_smile: Hopefully it all makes sense…

So, if the tournament champion wins PS, RS, and Excellence (which isn’t impossible), they take 4 of your 14 spots. Are the 3 extras redistributed? Or no?

Asking the question I’m guessing not, but I figured I would check.

Yes. So if we win 4 of the 14, we would only get 1, and the other spots would go to skills. Basically the extra spots go to skills, but starting with programming first. So now, the 3rd/4th ranked teams in skills would get to Worlds. I find it kind of dumb, but whatever.

And why is it not possible to win Tournament, both Skills, and Excellence?

“isn’t IMpossible.” Meaning it is possible. In fact, here in Arizona I would not be that surprised if it happened.

This system has some problems, though. Shouldn’t the judges be able to distribute them to the teams that are most deserving, or are going to stand the best shot at Worlds? It just seems like there must be a better way than using Skills Rankings.

The system seems fine to me. Perhaps the only problem is defensive robots that are unable to win the competition or judged awards. I guess the message is, if you’re going to make a defensive robot and want to qualify for worlds, either make it good enough to win, or have good enough documentation to win Design or Excellence. Having the judges distribute spots to teams who they think are “deserving” without any clear criteria sounds like a recipe for disaster. Personally I like the emphasis on skills challenges. You could always qualify with a robot designed specifically for skills and rebuild a defensive robot for worlds.

As an aside, I also like the global skills ranking because it allows strong regions to “punch above their weight” as it were eg. Singapore currently has 4 robots in the top 7 for robot skills.

On Topic: I’ve seen some incredibly strong robots out of Texas this season. Any chance of this event being live streamed? Or perhaps some videos posted afterwards? Teams will be pulling out all the stops, what with those all important worlds spots up for grabs. One of the many state champs I will be watching very closely (from the other side of the planet of course :p)

This event will be live streamed and potentially archived on youtube.

We are hoping everyone tunes in ! Many of these Texas teams are looking to break the top skill scores in the world.

The South Region is getting more and more teams( 46 registered)
the North Region is stalling (only 11 teams registered so far)

All of our “A” teams qualification were in the South region so we signed up for that one at the last minute of our 3 week window. If we snag a North region qualification we may switch. Rumor is 9090C won the other 49 Dallas regional spots :stuck_out_tongue:

I don’t think it matters where you were awarded your qualification. Teams could apply for either the North (Dallas) or South Texas Championships. You just had to pick one, but not both.

You are right. Apparently, South Region has much stronger competition than North.

I think you may switch.

BTW, it is a good rumor

That is correct, but if you qualify in one region and want to compete in the other regional championship you have to be added manually since the robotevents webpage will not allow you to do it yourself. Having waited until the night before our first qualification expired we signed up for the one we had access to sign up for.

Maybe, but that team from Arlington is pretty beastly! :rolleyes: