Qualifying Criteria for ADC Pro

Last Updated: 3/11/2026

Introduction

Teams and competitions must meet the criteria outlined in this guide to qualify for an ADC Pro Championship.

Competitions that do not follow the criteria will be considered a scrimmage and will not earn qualifying spots and results will not be included in the World Skills Ranking list. Official Qualifying Competitions must follow the rules and guidelines in the following documents:

• Current Competition Manual
• Current Competition Manual Q&A responses
• Guide to Judging
• Referee Guide
• Commitment to Event Excellence
• Code of Conduct
• Student-Centered Policy

If you have any questions regarding the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation (RECF) Qualifying Criteria, contact adcpro@recf.org. 

Note: From time to time, the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation (RECF) may make an exception to criteria to better support a growing Region. For more information, please contact your Regional Support Manager, RSM.

Definitions

Region: Geographic area (partial state, State, Province, Country, etc.).

Event Region: One or more Regions that have a common Regional Championship.

Regional Championship: Culminating event for teams in a specified Event Region.

Event Regions

For the inaugural ADC Pro season (2026-2027), all teams will be included in a single event region. In future seasons, the event regions may be divided into smaller geographic regions based on geography and the density of the teams in that area. Interest from teams outside of the US and Canada will be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Event Types

Scrimmages

Scrimmages are considered informal competitions and are not official competitions; as such, they do not qualify teams for a Regional Championship, and their results are not uploaded to RECFevents.

Qualifying Competitions

Qualifying Competitions are typically one or two day competitions where teams participate in the four ADC Pro Competition Missions.

Invitational Competition

An Invitational Competition is a Qualifying Competition where the Event Partner (EP) selects specific teams to participate. Participation is limited and based on criteria set by the EP and must be approved by the RSM.

EP’s may host one Invitational Competition per season, provided that they have already hosted another qualifying event of equal or greater size in the same season that meets all standard registration requirements.

Note: Due to the limited number of competitions in the inaugural season, the RECF will be encouraging all Qualifying Competitions to be non-Invitational Competitions.

Regional Championship

Regional Championship competitions are culminating events that teams must qualify for at Qualifying Competition to be eligible to compete. The ADC Pro Competition will have two Regional Championships:

• Fall Regional Championship
• Spring Regional Championship

Qualifying Competitions Criteria

For a Qualifying Competition to award invitations to a Regional Championship, they must follow the criteria below. Competitions that do not meet the criteria will be considered scrimmages.

All Qualifying Competitions must:

• Be posted as an ADC Pro Competition with online registration on RECFevents.org.
• Be open to any ADC Pro Competition team, unless designated and approved as an Invitational Competition by the RSM.
• Have at least 8 registered teams.
• Include all four ADC Pro Competition Missions:
  • Teamwork Mission: Each team must participate in a minimum of four Qualification Matches. The recommended number of Qualification matches per team is 6-7.
  • Piloting Skills Mission & Autonomous Skills Mission: Each team must be given the opportunity to participate in up to three Piloting and Autonomous Skills Matches.
  • Communication Mission: Each team must be given the opportunity to be interviewed for judged awards, and all official award criteria and rubrics must be followed. 
• Have adequate Wi-Fi access for the following:
  • RECF Competition Portal: The RECF Competition Portal is a web application that runs on web browsers specifically designed to support and manage RECF Drone Competitions. 
  • Team Wi-Fi access: Teams must be offered Wi-Fi access for the purpose of accessing web-based applications they may be utilizing to program their competition vehicles. EPs may share bandwidth restrictions or other regulations to prevent use outside of these applications.
  • Optional Public Wi-Fi: Public Wi-Fi is recommended for teams and spectators to access event information using the RECF Ready App or RECFevents.
• Qualifying Competitions for the 2026-2027 season begin on or after August 1, 2026.
  • Qualifying Competitions occurring prior to November 22nd, 2026 will qualify for the Fall Regional Championship.
  • Qualifying Competitions occurring after November 22nd, will qualify for the Spring Regional Championship.
• Occur three weeks prior to the associated Regional Championship.
• Be posted on RECFevents by:
  • October 1, 2026 for the Fall Regional Championship
  • March 1, 2027 for the Spring Regional Championship
• Follow the Commitment to Event Excellence, including following the RECF ADC Pro Judging Guidelines and Competition Manual.
• Offer the following awards and are encouraged to offer the optional awards:
  • Required:
    • All-Around Champion
    • Teamwork Mission Champions
    • Engineering Design Award
    • Skills Mission Champion
  • Optional:
    • Coding Systems Award
    • Airmanship Award
    • Industry Insights Award

Qualifying Awards Invitations to Regional Championships

Qualifying Competitions are allotted a certain number of Qualifying Awards invitations to the Regional Championship based on: 

1. The capacity of the Regional Championship.
2. The number and size of the Qualifying Competitions in the Event Region.

The RECF Regional Support Manager will assign the Qualifying Award Level to the Qualifying Competitions based on those criteria according to the table below. The awards that qualify to a Regional Championship can be viewed on the public competition website posted on RECFevents.org in the Awards tab. After the competition is completed, the winners will be posted on the competition website and will receive the information to register for the Regional Championship.

Double Qualifications 

If a team earns multiple qualifying awards at a Qualifying Competition (i.e., double qualifies), their additional qualification spot will be passed down to the next eligible team who has not already earned a qualifying award at that event.

The order of replacement is as follows:

1. Engineering Design Award
2. Skills Missions Champion
3. Coding Systems Award
4. Airmanship Award
5. Industry Insights
6. Next highest-ranked team on the Skills Challenge Ranking from that event that has not received a qualification spot from the event.

There are no lookbacks to previous competitions to see if a team has previously qualified for the Regional Championship. If all eligible teams at the event have earned a qualifying award at the event, the spot will be saved and awarded at the end of the season to the next highest-ranked non-qualified team from the World Skills List in that Event Region.

ADC Pro Regional Championships

The RECF RSM determines which competitions qualify for a Regional Championship and assigns the corresponding Qualifying Award Levels.

• A team is permitted to register for the Regional Championship in their Event Region
• A team is not permitted to register for any Regional Championships outside of their Event Region.
• A team must have posted a World Skills Ranking score -OR- have competed in a Qualifying Competition in the current season to be eligible for a Regional Championship invitation.
• Regional Championship events have no team minimum. Capacity is determined by the RECF RSM in consultation with Event Partners in the Region.

Regional Championship Qualification Methods

There are several ways for teams to qualify to a Regional Championship: 

1. Qualifying Award: Winning a qualifying award at a Qualifying Competition in the team’s Event Region.
2. Worlds Skills Ranking: If the Regional Championship in an Event Region is not filled to capacity through qualifying awards, teams may qualify through the World Skills Standings. Teams invited through the World Skills Standings are invited in ranked order after the results of the last qualifying event in the Event Region have been posted. Scores earned after this date will not be used to qualify teams to their Regional Championship.
3. Waitlist: If there is remaining capacity due to teams not accepting a formal invitation, the Regional Championship capacity may be lowered or teams may be invited from the Waitlist. This will be decided by the RECF RSM. When inviting teams from the the waitlist, the RECF RSM will give priority to:
   1. Teams from underrepresented areas
   2. Teams offering to support the event with volunteers or equipment
   3. The order in which teams waitlisted themselves

From time to time, the RSM may make an exception to one of these criteria to better support a growing State and/or Region. 

Regional Championship Dates

The ADC Pro Competition will include two Regional Championships. The exact dates will be within the following date ranges and will be finalized at a later date. 

• Fall Regional Championship: December 1 - 13, 2026
• Spring Regional Championship: May 1 - May 30, 2027

Regional Championship Registration and Payment Deadlines

Fall Championship:

• Teams that qualify for the ADC Pro Fall Championship on or before November 1, 2026 will have four weeks to register and pay.
• Teams that qualify for an ADC Pro Fall Championship after November 2, 2026 will have one week to register and must be paid at least one week prior to the Fall Championship.
• Teams that are invited from the Waitlist or World Skills list will have one week to register and pay. 
• Teams that are unpaid or have selected “Pay Later” by the stated deadline may be moved to the Waitlist at the discretion of the RSM in coordination with the Event Partner.

Spring Championship

• Teams that qualify for the ADC Pro Spring Championship on or before April 1, 2027 will have four weeks to register and pay.
• Teams that qualify for an ADC Pro Spring Championship after April 1, 2027 will have one week to register and must be paid at least one week prior to the Spring Championship.
• Teams that are invited from the Waitlist or World Skills list will have one week to register and pay. 
• Teams that are unpaid or have selected “Pay Later” by the stated deadline may be moved to the Waitlist at the discretion of the RSM in coordination with the Event Partner.