I’ve done robotics championships before in FRC, so I’m familiar with the division system, but my team just received a cryptic email from VEX announcing a VEX IQ open division. I’m at a loss as to what that means for the competition.
The email distinguishes between the qualifying event and the open event. Does this mean that the Open Division is a division of teams that otherwise did not qualify who are given the chance to play at Worlds anyway? Or is it something else entirely?
I have 3 teams that I coach: a middle school team who’s already qualified and two elementary teams that have not. Are there any hidden requirements for entering this division or things I should know? Will the winners of this division play against the winners of the other divisions as if they were in the qualified event?
I really wish VEX had provided more information in their email, I’m really at a loss about this. Thanks for any help!
I will provide a response later this evening. We are having an ice storm in Texas and Texans are not used to driving in this type of weather so I am heading home right now but will provide an explanation of Open Divisions to the entire community later tonight.
Basically yes, but I’m sure Dan and Co. have much more detail to dole out. ( I had several of my coaches ask me about this today and I made a phone call to get answers.)
So if I am correct in interpreting this, we can register for the open division now, and if we qualify at a state or regional tournament we are moved from open to qualifying. And if we win the open division then we are also moved up to qualifying. Or in other words, use it like a fail safe to get to worlds one way or another.
You can register for the VEX Worlds Open Division to guarantee a spot at VEX Worlds (on a first come, first accepted basis). If your team(s) qualifies for VEX Worlds through your regional / state event, your team(s) are moved from the Open Division to the Qualified Divisions. The Open Divisions and Qualified Divisions will compete at the exact same time, with the exact same judging. The teamwork champion from the Open Division(s) will compete in the overall finals against the teamwork champions from the Qualifying Divisions to determine the overall World Champion.
Basically I describe the Open Divisions as teams from the Wait List but we are opening the spots earlier to give these teams more time to plan and prepare.
Do teams need to do anything to be moved from the open when they later qualify?
If they have already turned in their notebook and completed their interview, do they need to sign up for a new interview after qualifying?
We had a team qualify today who was registered for the open and completed their interview already, but we have received a fresh email with new sign up information.
Teams are automatically moved from the Open Division to the qualified division. So you don’t need to do anything. But it does look like you found a gap in our procedures where we do not check if the team has already done their interview. I’ll send this to our Judging team. But you do not need to register to judge again.