Section 7 - VEX AI Robotics Competition

Game, Robot, and Tournament Rules

The VEX AI Robotics Competition is played on the same Field as VEX V5 Override, with the same Scoring Objects and Field Elements. Two (2) Teams, one (1) red and one (1) blue, with two (2) Robots each, compete in Matches that have no Driver Controlled Period. Each Match consists of a fifteen (0:15) second Isolation Period followed by a one minute and forty-five second (1:45) Interaction Period, and Robots operate autonomously for the entire Match.

All rules in Sections 1 through 5 apply to VEX AI Teams unless modified by the rules in this section. Student eligibility, Team makeup, and participation on more than one Team or in more than one program are governed by the Student Eligibility Policy; See rule G4.

Official rules clarifications for the VEX AI Robotics Competition come only from its own Q&A at events.vex.com, not the VEX V5 Q&A.

VEX AI Robotics Competition: Game Design Philosophy

An open letter to every Team entering the VEX AI Robotics Competition, and to every Head Referee who will call its Matches:

Override is a stacking game, and AI Robots can be unpredictable. We know those two things can work against each other. Stacks of Pins and Cups fall over in VRC Matches with a driver at the controls; they will fall over in VEX AI Matches, where no one is at the controls. Section 7 is written with that in mind, and so is this letter.

Teams: we want you to be as productive as you can be. Override gives an autonomous Robot more to do than any previous game: sort Pins by color, read the AprilTag on each Goal to know where it is, find a Loader, choose a Goal, and more. That is what this competition is for. Two Teams doing those things is a good Match, even if stacks are on the floor when it ends.

Toggles are a contest this game designed in. Setting one to your color changes who owns the yellow Pins in that Quadrant; it is a scoring action the game invites, and it leaves every stack standing. Knocking stacks down is not a scoring action, and a Robot coded to do it is where the grace in this letter runs thin.

Head Referees: a driver can see a stack start to tip and back off, or see a Match going sideways and change the plan on the fly. Giving a Robot that same judgment is one of the hardest problems in this competition, and every Team is still learning the intricacies of driving autonomously around other Robots, moving Scoring Objects, and Field Elements. Contact with stacks will happen, and on its own it is rarely a Violation. A Robot that disturbs a stack while scoring, driving to a Loader, or working a Toggle is playing the game, and so is a Robot that was knocked off course by another. We are asking you to start from the understanding that a Robot which removes points from the Field most likely did not mean to, to use your best judgment, to extend grace wherever you can, and to treat Disqualification as a last resort. The clearest cases for a call are an especially egregious action, a Team that plays a purely defensive strategy, or a Robot that repeats the same destructive action Match after Match. See VAIG3.

To both of you: this is not a loosening of the standard. It is a handshake. Teams compete knowing that the other Robots are also unsupervised, that unintended things will happen, and that a strange Match is a normal Match. Head Referees call Matches knowing that the Team in front of them was, far more often than not, trying to score. Our hope is simple: more VEX AI Matches that end with points on the board for both Teams, earned by Robots that were trying to score, and fewer that end in a Disqualification nobody wanted.

Build your points up. Do not knock the other Team’s down.

The Game Design Committee

VEX AI Definitions

Isolation Period - The first fifteen (0:15) seconds of a VEX AI Head-to-Head Match. Any rule that references the Autonomous Period applies to the Isolation Period.

Interaction Period - The one minute and forty-five second (1:45) period that follows the Isolation Period in a VEX AI Head-to-Head Match. Any rule that references the Driver Controlled Period applies to the Interaction Period. Robots remain autonomous during the Interaction Period; see VAIG2.

Isolation Bonus - The VEX AI equivalent of the Autonomous Bonus. Any rule that references the Autonomous Bonus applies to the Isolation Bonus. See VAISC1 for more information.

Isolation Win Point - The VEX AI equivalent of the Autonomous Win Point. Any rule that references the Autonomous Win Point applies to the Isolation Win Point. See VAISC2 for more information.

Isolation Points - The VEX AI equivalent of Autonomous Points, used for Qualification Match rankings. Any rule that references Autonomous Points applies to Isolation Points.

In the VEX AI Robotics Competition, an Alliance is one Team with two Robots. Rules VUT1 and VUR1 apply; see VAIT1 and VAIRM1. Any rule that references an Alliance partner, or the other Team on an Alliance, applies to the Team’s second Robot.

Caution

The VEX AI Definitions exist so that Sections 2 through 5 can be read once, not rewritten. Wherever a rule says Autonomous Period, read Isolation Period; wherever it says Driver Controlled Period, read Interaction Period. Drive Team Members are still Drive Team Members: they place Robots, stand in the Alliance Station, introduce Match Loads, and retrieve Robots after the Match. They do not operate the Robots. See VAIG2.

Rule Modifications: Field Setup

The VEX AI playing Field is set up differently than a Head-to-Head VEX V5 Robotics Competition Override Match, with the following modifications:

1. The VEX GPS code strip must be installed on the Field.
2. Modified Field layout. Four Goals are removed. In each Quadrant, the Goal on the left-hand side, as seen from outside the Field Perimeter looking into that Quadrant, is removed, leaving one Goal in each Quadrant and the Midfield Goal. No Field Element is relocated.
3. Modified AprilTag numbering. The Midfield Goal keeps AprilTag 0. The four Quadrant Goals are numbered counterclockwise from the red Alliance-colored Goal: the red Alliance-colored Goal in the Red 1 Quadrant is AprilTag 1, the neutral Goal in the Red 2 Quadrant is AprilTag 2, the blue Alliance-colored Goal in the Blue 1 Quadrant is AprilTag 3, and the neutral Goal in the Blue 2 Quadrant is AprilTag 4. See Figure VAI-1 and the VEX AI AprilTag drawing in Appendix A.
4. Modified Match Loads. There are no yellow/yellow Match Loads. Red Alliance Match Loads are 10 Cups and 10 red/yellow Pins; blue Alliance Match Loads are 10 Cups and 10 blue/yellow Pins.
5. Modified Scoring Object layout. Scoring Objects begin the Match as shown in Figures VAI-1 through VAI-3, in the quantities listed below. Each neutral Goal begins the Match with a yellow/yellow Pin Placed in it.

The VEX AI Head-to-Head Field consists of the following:

• 48 Cups
  • 20 Match Loads
    • 10 for red Alliance
    • 10 for blue Alliance
  • 8 that start the Match in predetermined locations on the Field (gray side up)
  • 20 that start the Match in predetermined locations on the Field (clear side up)
• 53 Pins
  • 4 red/blue that start the Match in predetermined locations
  • 19 red/yellow
    • 2 Preloads
    • 10 Match Loads
    • 7 that start the Match in predetermined locations
  • 19 blue/yellow
    • 2 Preloads
    • 10 Match Loads
    • 7 that start the Match in predetermined locations
  • 11 yellow/yellow
    • 11 that start the Match in predetermined locations, including one on each neutral Goal
    • No Match Loads
• 5 Goals
  • 2 Alliance colored
    • 1 red
    • 1 blue
  • 3 neutral colored
    • 2 short
    • 1 tall
• 4 Toggles
• 4 Loaders, two adjacent to each Alliance Station

Figure VAI-1: An overhead view of the VEX AI Head-to-Head Field in its starting configuration.

Figure VAI-2: An isometric view of the VEX AI Head-to-Head Field in its starting configuration.

Figure VAI-3: A side view of the VEX AI Head-to-Head Field in its starting configuration, from the audience side.

Caution

The VEX AI Field removes Goals rather than moving them, so the assembly instructions are unchanged: build a VEX V5 Field and leave four Goals out. One Goal per Quadrant spreads scoring across the Field, removes the wall-to-Goal choke points beside the Toggles, and lets each Goal carry a unique AprilTag for localization.

VEX AI Robot Skills Matches use the same Field layout, with the Match Load and Preload modifications in VAIRS3.

Rule Modifications: Scoring

<VAISC1> Isolation Bonus criteria. Rule SC7 applies as written to the Isolation Period. The Isolation Bonus is worth twelve (12) points, the value listed for the Autonomous Bonus in the Scoring table in Section 2. Rule VUG5 does not apply to VEX AI.

<VAISC2> Different Isolation Win Point criteria. Rule SC8 is applied differently for VEX AI. An Isolation Win Point is awarded to any Alliance that ends the Isolation Period with all of the following tasks completed, and that has committed no Violations during the Isolation Period:

1. At least five (5) Pin Halves Scored for your Alliance. (Does not include Pin Halves Scored in Quadrants on the opposing side of the Autonomous Line.)
2. At least two (2) Goals each contain at least two (2) Pin Halves Scored for your Alliance. (Does not include Goals in Quadrants on the opposing side of the Autonomous Line.)
3. At least one (1) Robot is at least partially within the Midfield.
4. Neither Robot is contacting the Field Perimeter.

These criteria apply at all VEX AI events. Rule VUG6 does not apply to VEX AI.

Caution

A VEX AI Team is two Robots on one side of the Autonomous Line, which is the same shape as a VEX V5 Alliance during the Autonomous Period. The VEX AI bar sits below SC8 on purpose: five Scored Pin Halves instead of six, with one Robot finishing in the Midfield. Knowing where you are is the point of this competition, so the Midfield task rewards it. Both Robots must still leave the Field Perimeter.

Rule Modifications: Game

<VAIG1> Standard game rules apply. All Scoring, Specific Game, Safety, General, and General Game rules in Section 2 apply to VEX AI as written, using the VEX AI Definitions, except as modified in this section. The following VEX U Game rules also apply as written: VUG2 and VUG3. Rules VUG1, VUG4, VUG5, and VUG6 do not apply to VEX AI.

<VAIG2> Autonomous means “no humans” for the entire Match. Rule GG12 applies during both the Isolation Period and the Interaction Period. Drive Team Members may not interact with Robots, Field Elements, or Scoring Objects in any way, directly or indirectly, at any time during a Match, except as noted below.

1. Drive Team Members are allowed to reach into the Field during the Interaction Period while introducing Match Loads as described in rule SG11. See VAIG5. No other interaction with Scoring Objects is permitted.
2. Rule <GG4d> applies during both the Isolation Period and the Interaction Period. A Drive Team Member may reach into the Field and touch their own Robot only if the Robot has not moved at all during the Match, and only for the reasons listed in <GG4d>.
3. A Robot may be Disabled at any time during the Match, with permission from or at the request of the Head Referee, as described in GG12. Drive Team Members must Disable their Robot immediately when directed to do so by the Head Referee. A Robot that has been Disabled may not be re-enabled for the rest of the Match.

Violation Notes:

1. Any Violation of this rule during the Isolation Period is handled per GG13. Any Violation during the Interaction Period that affects a Robot’s actions, a Field Element, or a Scoring Object is a Major Violation. Touching a Robot that has already moved, for any reason other than a Head Referee’s direction to Disable it, is a Major Violation.

Caution

Drive Team Members still attend the Match per GG1, place their Robots per GG3 and VUG2, and retrieve them after the all-clear. Their job during the Match is to watch, to introduce Match Loads per SG11, and to Disable a Robot if the Head Referee requires it. Nothing else.

<VAIG3> Use common sense, and give grace. Rule G3 applies to VEX AI with added weight. Teams do not control their Robots during a Match, and a Robot will sometimes do something its Team did not intend. Unintended actions are part of this competition, not Violations.

1. A Violation should be called in VEX AI only when the action meets at least one of the following conditions:
   1. It is Match Affecting, or its effect on the Match is significant and obvious.
   2. The Head Referee interprets it to be intentional, including a programmed strategy that depends on the action.
   3. The same Team repeats it across multiple Matches in a way that indicates strategy rather than malfunction.
2. An action that meets none of these conditions is not a Violation, even where the same action would be a Violation in a VEX V5 Match. The Head Referee may still warn the Team so that it can correct its Robot before its next Match. Head Referees should use their best judgment and let the Teams play wherever possible.
3. This rule does not lower the standard for the Safety rules (S1 through S5), for VAIG2, or for the Code of Conduct. An unsafe Robot is Disabled per S1 whether or not its behavior was intended, and a human who interacts with a Match is in Violation of VAIG2 regardless of intent.
4. Teams entering VEX AI accept that Robots act without human input, that unintended actions will occur, and that a Match may not unfold as either Team expected, including the risks described in SG8 and SG12. Teams are expected to compete graciously (G1) with that understanding. Entering a VEX AI Match is accepting this.
5. Rules SG9 and SG10 apply in VEX AI with their intent unchanged: Teams should pursue constructive strategies that add points for themselves, not strategies that remove opposing points from Goals. Interactions around Goals and Toggles that unintentionally disturb or knock down Placed Scoring Objects are the clearest case for grace under clause b. A Robot that is obviously coded to knock stacks down is the clearest case for a call under clause a, as an intentional action.

Violation Notes:

1. In VEX AI, a Violation that would be a Major Violation under the Violation Notes of the rule involved, including a Match Affecting Violation, is considered a Minor Violation unless the Head Referee determines that the action was especially egregious, that the Team’s strategy is purely defensive, or that the Team’s Robot has repeated the action across multiple Matches. In the context of this rule, an especially egregious action is one the Head Referee judges to be beyond what might be expected in normal gameplay such as Holding an opponent for fifteen (15) seconds or more, or knocking over the only points scored on the entire field.

Caution

AI on a competition Robot is new, and no Team will implement it perfectly. The GDC wants Teams to try things and to ask more of their Robots than they are sure will work, without a Head Referee being pushed into calling a Violation the Team plainly did not intend. The trade is mutual: every Team competes knowing the other Robots are also unsupervised, and that a strange Match is a normal Match. When in doubt, no call, and a word with the Team between Matches. A Robot that drifts into a Hold and never releases is a no call unless it decided the Match; a Robot whose program plainly targets the opposing Robots every Match is a call. Around Goals and Toggles, expect contact. A Robot that clips a stack on its way to a Loader is a no call; a Robot that drives through the opposing Alliance’s Goal every Match is a call under SG9. Let the Teams play.

<VAIG4> Robot starting sizes, positions, and expansion. Rule VUG1 does not apply to VEX AI. For the purposes of <SG1a>, each Robot must be within its starting size per VAIRM2. Rule SG1 otherwise applies as written: Robots start in the same positions as in a VEX V5 Head-to-Head Match, contacting the Field tiles and Field Perimeter on their Alliance’s side of the Autonomous Line, in separate Quadrants. See Figure SG-1. Rules SG2, SG3, and SG12 apply as written; there are no VEX AI modifications to expansion limits.

Caution

The 18” limit for the smaller Robot is intentional. A VEX V5 Robot that satisfies R3 is a legal VEX AI Robot without modification, so VEX V5 Teams can enter VEX AI with the Robot they already have. A Robot built to the smaller VUG1 size also fits, so VEX U Teams lose nothing. The 24” Robot is subject to SG2 as written, and therefore cannot expand horizontally beyond its starting maximum footprint.

<VAIG5> Loaders and Match Loads. Rule SG11 applies as written, with the Interaction Period in place of the Driver Controlled Period.

1. Drive Team Members may introduce Match Loads through their Alliance-colored Loaders, and may operate (raise/lower) those Loaders, only during the Interaction Period of the Match.
2. Rule SG13 applies during the Interaction Period as written, and does not apply during the Isolation Period.
3. Match Load quantities are listed under Rule Modifications: Field Setup.

Scoring Objects that leave the Field are returned per SG4 by event volunteers, not by Drive Team Members.

Rule Modifications: Robot Skills Challenge

<VAIRS1> Standard rules from VEX V5 and VEX U apply. Rules RSC1 through RSC5 apply as written, with the modifications below. The following VEX U Robot Skills Challenge rules also apply as written: VURS2 and VURS3. Rule VAIG2 applies for the entire Robot Skills Match.

<VAIRS2> VEX AI Teams compete only in Autonomous Coding Skills Matches. There are no VEX AI Driving Skills Matches. Rules T22 and T23 apply as written, with each Driving Skills Match score treated as zero (0). If an event chooses to run a deciding Match under T22, it is an Autonomous Coding Skills Match.

<VAIRS3> VEX AI Robot Skills Matches use the same Field layout as VEX AI Head-to-Head Matches. The Field is set up as described under Rule Modifications: Field Setup, including the VEX GPS code strip (see rule RSC4) and a yellow/yellow Pin Placed on each neutral Goal, with the following modifications:

1. Match Loads: ten (10) Cups, four (4) red/yellow Pins, and six (6) blue/yellow Pins, introduced through the red Alliance Loaders per rule RSC2.
2. Each Robot begins the Match with one (1) red/yellow Pin as a Preload, per rule SG5.
3. Both Robots start in legal starting positions for the red Alliance, per rule VURS3.

<VAIRS4> Scoring VEX AI Robot Skills Matches. VEX AI Robot Skills Matches are scored as VEX U Robot Skills Matches: Rule RSC3 applies as written, both Robots count per VURS2, and each Robot ending the Match in the Midfield earns the points listed in the Scoring table. For the purposes of RSC3, each Quadrant has the color shown in Figure Q-1, whether or not its Alliance-colored Goal is on the Field.

Figure VAIRS-1: An overhead view of the VEX AI Skills Field in its starting configuration.

Figure VAIRS-2: An isometric view of the VEX AI Skills Field in its starting configuration.

Figure VAIRS-3: A side view of the VEX AI Skills Field in its starting configuration.

Rule Modifications: Tournament

<VAIT1> VEX AI Head-to-Head Matches will be played 1-Team vs. 1-Team. Rules VUT1, VUT2, VUT3, and VUT6 apply as written. For every rule in Sections 2 through 5 that refers to an Alliance, the Team is the Alliance, and both of the Team’s Robots play in each Match. Rules VUT4 and VUT5 do not apply; see VAIT4 and VAIT5. For <VUT1a>, the two (2) Robots brought to the Field must satisfy VAIRM2.

<VAIT2> Qualification Matches will be conducted in the same manner as in a VEX U Tournament. Rules T10 through T13 apply as written, with Isolation Win Points and Isolation Points in place of Autonomous Win Points and Autonomous Points. Teams are ranked by the following, in order:

1. Average Win Points (Win Points / number of Matches played).
2. Average Isolation Points (Isolation Points / number of Matches played), the Team’s score at the end of the Isolation Period of each Qualification Match.
3. Average Strength of Schedule Points (Strength of Schedule Points / number of Matches played), per T12.
4. Remaining tiebreakers, per rule T13.

<VAIT3> Elimination Matches will be conducted in the same manner, but without an Alliance Selection. Rules T17, T18, and T19 apply as written; rules T14, T15, and T16 do not apply. Teams are seeded into the Elimination Bracket in order of their Qualification Match ranking. At the end of the competition, one Team will emerge as the Tournament champion.

1. The number of Teams in Elimination Matches for a given event is determined as follows, except in extraordinary circumstances with the permission of Global Robotics and Science Foundation: at events with sixteen (16) or more Teams, sixteen (16) Teams advance; at events with fewer than sixteen (16) Teams, every Team advances, and one or more Byes go to the highest-ranking Teams.
2. Each Team in the Elimination Bracket gets one three-minute Time-out, per rule GG7.
3. When a Team is Disqualified in an Elimination Match, both of its Robots are Disqualified per rule GG6, and the opposing Team is awarded the win.
4. Ties in Elimination Matches are handled per rule T19.

<VAIT4> The Isolation Period at the beginning of each Head-to-Head Match will be fifteen (15) seconds. Rule VUT4 does not apply to VEX AI. Any rule that references the Autonomous Period applies to the Isolation Period; see the VEX AI Definitions and VAISC1. The Isolation Period may be ended early if both Teams and the Head Referee agree. This option is available in all Matches by default and does not need to be established at the event meeting.

<VAIT5> The Interaction Period will be one minute and forty-five seconds (1:45). Rule VUT5 does not apply to VEX AI. Any rule that references the Driver Controlled Period applies to the Interaction Period, and Robots remain autonomous throughout; see VAIG2. Teams may signal that they wish to end the Interaction Period early. The Interaction Period ends early only if both Teams and the Head Referee agree; this option is available in all Matches by default and is never required.

Rule Modifications: Robot

<VAIRM1> VEX U Robot rules apply as written, except Robot sizes. Rules VUR1 through VUR15 apply to VEX AI Robots as written, except that Robot sizes are governed by VAIRM2. Where a VEX U Robot rule modifies a VEX V5 Robot rule, the VEX U rule controls.

<VAIRM2> Different Robot sizes. Rule R3 applies to VEX AI Robots with the following volumes in place of the VEX V5 volume. One of a Team’s two Robots must fit within an 18” (457.2 mm) x 18” (457.2 mm) x 18” (457.2 mm) volume, and the other must fit within a 24” (609.6 mm) x 24” (609.6 mm) x 24” (609.6 mm) volume. A Team whose Robots both fit within the 18” volume satisfies this rule. Rule VUG1 does not apply to VEX AI.

Caution

The 18” volume is the VEX V5 inspection volume on purpose. A VEX V5 Team can bring two 18” Robots from the regular season, add AI sensing and processing, and inspect as a VEX AI Team without rebuilding. The 24” volume is a ceiling for one Robot, not a requirement, and it replaces the 15” small-Robot volume used in VEX U. Every other VEX U Robot rule applies as written per VAIRM1.

<VAIRM3> Components used for AI vision processing are Additional Electronics. Cameras, processors, and other components used for image capture, machine vision, or AI processing are Additional Electronics, and are governed by VUR12.