Competitions
The students will also be demonstrating their learning and their design process to judges to show what they’ve learned at several tournaments throughout the season. In Sioux Falls, we have a great opportunity to participate in several South Dakota tournaments in Harrisburg (10 min), Vermillion (1 hr), and possibly Canton if they schedule a tournament still (25 min). There's a chance we will host some sort of competition once again this year. Once the roboteers have been organized into their groups and captains are chosen, it's important to try to be at tournaments. If a roboteer can’t make it, the other two can still fully participate but a full team is always what we hope for!
Competitions need chaperones! Each team of 2-5 needs at least one parent along to be responsible for them and transport them. The exception to this is the tournaments that the coach offers to drive and watch after them the entire time. Read about each tournament on the Events page here.
Registration
Fill out the registration form below. Prices for everything in robotics is seeming to be increasing like prices everywhere. My goal is to reach out to businesses considering a sponsorship for our club, pending the approval of our elders. If a business you know or are connected might consider sponsoring Ram Robotics, please let me know and I will put it on the list of businesses to send our sponsorship request to, if we approved to move forward by council. They would be recognized on a banner that we would put up at our tournaments and on our Ram Robotics Facebook page.
Fee
$110 to cover materials, equipment, registration for the season, and fees for all regular season tournaments.
Teams that attend the state tournament will be asked to give an additional amount of $15 in February.
Information about Vex IQ tournament fees:
The season registration fee is $650 for 4 teams and $800 for 5 teams which is another increase from last year.
Each tournament fee is $35 per team (If teams decide to go to the Vermillion tournament and qualify for the State tournament (which most teams do), those fees ($35 and $50 per team respectively) are paid separately since they are not guaranteed parts of this club.
Supplies have mostly been funded by many generous donations and previous fees but we are trying to upgrade completely to generation 2 materials for the main components like the brains, controllers, batteries as well as some specialty parts.
We are hoping to get a higher quality shirt this year as well.
Teams
The way we handle organizing teams is by asking each team to list a number of people they'd enjoy working with, what roles on a team they'd like to contribute to (i.e leadership, building, programming, operating), and who they might not work well with. This is submitted individually and not discussed and then they are arranged in teams with the goal of being able to contribute to the team, not simply have a friends to goof around with. First time participants are encouraged to consider joining a team of their peers rather than an experienced team. Teams can only compete against other elementary level teams if they are all grade 5.
Teams will usually be 3 or 4. If a team wants to compete as a 2 person team, that option is possible but if one roboteer is sick, they won't be able to compete at a competition. Additionally, the coach still has the final say on if the arrangement will be effective and acceptable.
If a roboteer has a sincere problem with the team that he or she is sorted into, they are encouraged to speak to their coach.
Considerations
Student Considerations:
Students should be aware that this is a rigorous, challenging club with thinking, collaborating, and discipline at the center. Robotics is a fun atmosphere and there’s time for chatting and fun but any student that wants to participate needs to be prepared for work too. Building, planning, organizing takes time and cooperation in every group!
Practices are fun but they are not chances to goof off with your friends for an hour. They are meant to get every member of the team involved in discussing, planning, building, programming and practicing! Collaboration is absolutely essential!
Parent Considerations:
Practice runs until 4:45 and then can be picked up at the normal after school pickup location.
If you pick up early, please come in to get your son/daughter. The coach won't always have an opportunity to see or respond to texts in the middle of practice.
Communication on Gradelink is essential to this club especially if you send a son/daughter on the big van for a tournament. Please expect to receive messages through Gradelink.
Saturday Sessions have become almost a necessity for teams that want to compete at a high level. The building process takes many revisions. Saturday Sessions are usually scheduled on Thursday or Friday and notified through Gradelink depending on the coach's schedule. These are ALWAYS completely optional.
Roboteers are also allowed, and highly encouraged(!), to check out their robot along with parts in a large rolling tool chest to take home and work on over the weekends which can be a great way for teams to get together for extra work time. If a team wants to compete for high rankings, they will need more than an hour a week. The STEM lab can be used if a chaperone can come in, so feel free to arrange that with the coach.