The REC Foundation emphasizes the importance of positive, respectful, and ethical conduct of all participants at events. The RECF Code of Conduct outlines expected behaviors, and all programs require that adults avoid giving students an unfair advantage by using designs or strategies beyond their abilities. The Student-Centered Policy mandates that students are actively involved in all aspects of their robot’s design, build, and programming.
Ultimately, safety of students and everyone in attendance is the top priority. An Event Partner will not put anyone at risk by allowing a team that is engaging in physically threatening or verbally abusive behaviors to participate through qualification matches.
Disclaimer: The table below contains sample scenarios and possible outcomes meant as a template for educational purposes only. The chart contains “Scenarios” consisting of rule violations / event behavior and “Possible Outcomes” containing guidelines for the user to follow.
Before submitting a Code of Conduct report form, ensure that you contact your Regional Support Manager for guidance. Additionally, make sure to inform the Event Partner about the situation. Please review the Code of Conduct Reporting Tools document for specific steps, as these are only example scenarios.
The REC Foundation does not guarantee specific results or outcomes.
| Example Scenarios | Recommended Steps |
| <G1>Treat everyone with Respect: A judge at a local V5RC event overhears two students talking very disrespectfully about their alliance partner’s game play. The students also comment that this is the worst event they have been to. What should the judge do? |
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| <G2> Student Centeredness: An event attendee sees an adult actively working on code with a computer plugged into a Robot, and no student team members are present. How should they handle this situation? |
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| <G4> Robot must represent the skill level of the team: The Head Referee tells the Event Partner that they witnessed a drive team member from 1234A driving for team 1234B during a Skills match. How should the EP handle this situation? |
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| <T1> Head Referees have ultimate and final authority on all gameplay decisions: While at a local V5RC event Teams 123A and 456B are alliance partners on the blue alliance in a very closely scored match, with the red alliance winning by 1 point. The Blue alliance argues for a recount, and the Head Referee explains that everything has been counted multiple times. The Head Referee agrees to one more count, with no change. The alliance refuses to accept the decision. What should the Head Referee do in this situation? |
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| <T4> The EP has ultimate authority regarding all non-gameplay decisions: An event’s RobotEvents listing says that notebooks will need to be submitted in hard copy format. An organization’s teams arrive with digital notebooks on thumb drives, which are rejected at team check-in. The teams ask for time to print and resubmit their notebooks, but the EP rejects the request due to time constraints. The team continues to argue, and the coach gets involved. What should the EP do? |
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| <S2>Students must be accompanied by an Adult: A volunteer notices that a team does not have a supervising adult at the event. When asked where their coach is, students tell the volunteer that the adults all left the event and will not be back until the end of the day. The volunteer informs the EP. What should the EP do? |
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| <R17> (VIQRC) / <R28> (V5RC) There is a difference between accidentally and willfully violating a Robot rule: A team passes inspection, and is later found to have replaced their motors with illegally modified motors. |
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If the behavior persists, please contact the RSM. Possible results include:
- Removal from consideration for judged awards
- Disqualification from the current match
- Disqualification from remaining matches and removal from Alliance Selection and Finals/Elimination matches
- Removal of team and/or individual from venue