Chapter 9: VEX U for Head Referees
Introduction
VEX U is the collegiate level of the VEX V5 Robotics Competition. VEX U teams play the same game: Override, on the same field, with the same Pins, Cups, Toggles, and goals. What changes is a set of rule modifications that affect how matches are structured, how teams use their robots, and how those robots may be built. A Head Referee comfortable with standard VEX V5 Override will recognize most of what happens in a VEX U match, but the differences are significant enough to understand in their own right.
This chapter is built around a single idea: the skills you have already built carry directly into VEX U, and the Game Manual is here to support your rulings just as it has throughout this course. The VEX U rules live in their own section of the Game Manual (Section 6), and they modify the standard rules you already know rather than replacing them. Your job is to recognize when a VEX U match is doing something different, understand that a VEX U-specific rule likely governs it, and know where to look to confirm the call.
That matters most for the robot rules. VEX U allows things standard V5 Override does not — a second robot, more motors and sensors, and team-fabricated parts — and those rules can read as dense and technical, especially for a Head Referee who is not an engineer. You are not the inspector, and you do not need to carry all of that technical detail yourself. What you do need is to make a confident, well-sourced final ruling when an inspector, volunteer, or team brings a question to you.
The time to complete this chapter is approximately 30 minutes.
In This Chapter
This chapter covers how a VEX U match differs from standard V5 Override — its structure, game rules, and Robot Skills setup — and the VEX U robot rules most likely to reach you in a ruling. As in earlier chapters, the Game Manual remains your official source for exact criteria; this chapter points you to the rules that apply, but it does not replace reading them.