Note: Based on feedback from sponsors, judges, students, and parents, some of our rules have been revised. For safety concerns, the number of people allowed in various locations during the contests (such as the pits) is controlled. Additionally, for fairness purposes during the contests, communication as well as the amount of assistance sponsors can provide in setup/teardown is limited. Please read through the rules below and let us know should you have any concerns.
Teams are led by at least ONE team sponsor and are composed of at most FOUR students (per team). Students are not allowed to be part of multiple teams.
The team sponsor must be a TCEA member. Click here to renew.
All teams are required to have a team name and it must meet common school standards.
Only registered students are allowed to touch the robot and computer that is used to program it – the only exception is when technical problems with the computer occur. Live student problem solving is the spirit of this competition!
Only registered students will be allowed in the team work area/competition arena area.
Teams must designate one student member to be the TEAM CAPTAIN. The team captain is the only person from a team that can review and/or initial score sheets or dispute field setup with the referees.
Students in grade levels 4th – 8th may compete in either Intermediate or Advanced level competition.
Students in grade levels 9th – 12th may ONLY compete in Advanced level competition.
Teams must compete in their designated area unless there are not enough teams in their area to hold a contest. You may contact your area director with questions.
For the area contests, each school may enter no more than four teams, per category, without permission from the areaIf space is available, the area director may allow schools to register more than 4 teams. (Each school can have 4 teams in Advanced Arena, 4 teams in Advanced Inventions, 4 teams in Intermediate Arena, and 4 teams in Intermediate Inventions. This makes a total of 16 teams from one school.)
A maximum of two Arena and/or Inventions teams from each school in each grade level division may advance to the state competition.
Wildcard teams will be selected for all remaining available space at the state competition. Wildcard teams are selected by comparing all area results to determine the top scorers who did not place 1st or 2nd at the area contests. These teams will receive an invitation (depending on the number of spaces available).
Schools qualify for the state competition, not individual team members. The individuals that actually make up a team at the state competition are the decision of the team sponsor and the school’s principal.
NO late or onsite registrations will be allowed at the area or state contests.
During the competition, students may not communicate with anyone except other registered students and competition staff; this prohibits all forms of communications, including but not limited to live and electronic communication (talking, texting, videos, etc...). If the need arises to communicate with anyone else (sponsors, parents, etc...) the students should request competition staff to coordinate.
Students in violation of any rule or caught using communications devices may be disqualified and asked to leave the competition.
The invention contest is an open-ended contest. Teams of two to four students will create and develop a robotic invention to demonstrate a solution for a problem of their choice. Invention Contest teams will showcase their research, robot performance, robot design, marketing, and presentation skills for judges at the TCEA area contests. Students will approach their problem as a real team of engineers working together to solve their problem using the Engineering Design Process.
The arena contest is a prescribed problem contest. Teams of two to four students receive a set of challenge rules and specifications designed around a theme that varies from year to year. The 2011 TCEA Arena Contest game is titled “Hot Rod” and is designed around nuclear disaster cleanup and nuclear waste management. Strategies to compete in the head-to-head rounds include speed, accuracy, and using sensors to detect objects.
