Check-in and inspection.Teams check in and get their Drone inspected (Section 5). The Head Referee usually holds a short meeting to go over the rules.
Practice Matches. Optional Matches that don’t count, so Teams can get used to the Field.
Qualification Matches.Teams are randomly paired into Alliances of two. Both Drones fly together for three minutes (3:00) and share one score. Matches are played in Rounds, and each Round uses one Scoring System that is revealed when the Round starts. Teams are ranked by their average score.
Drone Skills Matches. Between Qualification Matches, a Team can fly alone for ninety seconds (1:30), either with a Pilot (Piloting Skills) or with code (Autonomous Skills). Skills Matches always use Scoring System A.
Alliance Selection. The top-ranked Teams pick partners for the Finals. Half of the Teams at an event compete in Finals.
After the Timeout, Drones can still be retrieved whenever all Drones are in Prop Lock, but the clock keeps running.
At 0:00, any Drone that is still flying and hasn’t started landing holds in a hover. After the Head Referee checks which Drones are Landed, Pilots fly the hovering Drones back and land them.
This manual is the official rulebook for the VEX AIR Drone Competition and this season’s game, Pick & Drop. Everyone at an event follows it: Teams, coaches, referees, Event Partners, and volunteers.
It is not a strategy guide, a flying tutorial, or a replacement for referee or Event Partner training.
T (Tournament Rules) explain how events run and how Teams are ranked.
L (League Rules) list the tournament rule changes specific to leagues.
Capitalized words like Drone, Match, and Prop Lock have special meanings, listed in the Glossary (Appendix B). If a word isn’t in the Glossary, use its normal dictionary meaning.
Some rules have Violation Notes that explain how the rule is enforced, such as when a Violation becomes Major. In the online manual, Violation Notes appear as a dropdown below each rule; select it to open the notes. If a rule has no Violation Notes, the standard penalties apply (see Violation, Disablement, and Disqualification in the Glossary, Appendix B).
Some places in the manual also have orange-bordered boxes. They explain a rule or definition in a different way, where the Game Design Committee thought that would help. These boxes support the rules and definitions; they don’t replace them.
If two sources of rules seem to disagree, see Hierarchy of Information in the Prefix at the front of this manual. Game Manual Updates and The Q&A System are there too.
This is the first season of VEX AIR Drone Competition events, and we’re excited. We’ll be paying close attention all year, and what we learn from Teams, Event Partners, and referees will shape the seasons that follow.
Pick & Drop was partly released last year. The early Teams told us the flying was fun, but they wanted more strategy and more variety from one Match to the next.
So this season, Pick & Drop uses six Scoring Systems, with a different one for each Round. The Field, the Scoring Objects, and what counts as Scored stay the same; only the point values change. A Goal worth chasing in one Round might be worth skipping in the next. Teams that read the Scoring System and adjust will find chances that Teams flying the same plan every Match will miss.
VEX AIR is also our first competition played entirely in three dimensions. We can’t wait to watch Students grow in airmanship, adaptability, spatial awareness, and the discipline to fly a plan under pressure.
