The Robotics Education & Competition Foundation (RECF) is continually evaluating how we can improve the competition experience for students, educators, event partners, and volunteers. As our RECF Achieve and RECF Inspire programs continue to grow, we want to ensure that our competition infrastructure supports our mission of making robotics education and competition accessible, affordable, reliable, and sustainable for you.
As part of this ongoing commitment to you, RECF is moving away from using field control systems for RECF Achieve and RECF Inspire competitions starting on November 17, 2026. If you have questions about events close to that date, please talk with your Regional Support Manager.
1. Improving Reliability and Reducing Technical Issues
- Field control systems introduce additional hardware, wiring, connections, and software into an already complex competition environment. While these systems serve a purpose, they can also create numerous points of failure such as broken wires, damaged clips, faulty connections, malfunctioning field components, and controller ports that become damaged through repeated plugging and unplugging. These issues can result in robots failing to move as expected, matches being delayed, and volunteers spending valuable time diagnosing equipment problems instead of running matches and supporting students.
- Moving away from field control reduces these potential failure points and allows event partners to focus more of their attention on running a successful competition.
2. Simplifying Event Setup and Operations
Hosting a robotics competition requires significant preparation, volunteer coordination, and attention to detail. Every additional piece of equipment adds another task to the setup, testing, maintenance, and breakdown process.
Removing the requirement for field control can help event partners:
- Reduce the amount of wiring and equipment that must be installed and maintained.
- Spend less time troubleshooting field connections and communication issues.
- Simplify pre-event set-up and subsequent equipment testing.
- Reduce the technical skills and specialized troubleshooting capabilities required of volunteers.
- Transition more efficiently between matches.
These improvements are especially valuable for schools, community organizations, and smaller event partners that may have limited technical resources or volunteer capacity.
3. Reducing the Cost of Hosting Competitions
- RECF believes that the cost of hosting an event should be focused on delivering a high-quality student experience—not on purchasing additional equipment that may not be essential to the competition itself.
- Field control systems require additional hardware, cables, connectors, replacement components, and other supporting equipment. Event partners must also account for the ongoing costs of maintenance, repair, and replacement.
- By eliminating the requirement for field control, RECF can reduce the financial burden placed on event partners and make it easier for more schools and organizations to host competitions.
- Lower event costs can help existing partners expand their programs while creating opportunities for new partners to enter the RECF competition ecosystem.
4. Expanding Technology Choice and Innovation
- RECF Achieve and RECF Inspire should be competitions that encourage innovation, problem-solving, and engineering. Restricting participation to a particular electronics ecosystem is not in alignment with these goals.
- Requiring field control can create an additional compatibility requirement for teams and manufacturers. Moving away from that requirement creates greater flexibility for our programs to explore alternative electronics, control systems, and robotics technologies.
- This change supports RECF's future interest in welcoming additional technology providers, encouraging competition among suppliers, and expanding the range of affordable hardware options available to students.
- A more open technology environment can also create opportunities for new industry partnerships and help RECF adapt as robotics technology continues to evolve.
5. Improving Access to Competition Resources
- RECF wants teams to spend their time and resources learning, designing, building, programming, and competing.
- When essential competition participation depends on proprietary equipment, specialized accessories, or products available only through restricted purchasing channels, the cost and complexity of participating can increase.
- Reducing dependence on field control systems helps remove one potential barrier and supports a more accessible competition model. It also creates greater flexibility to evaluate commercially available components and alternative solutions that meet RECF's technical and safety requirements.
- Our goal is not simply to remove a piece of equipment. It is to make participation easier without compromising the integrity of the competition.
6. Establishing Clearer and More Consistent Match Operations
- Field control has historically been used to coordinate robot starts and stops. However, a field control system does not guarantee perfect synchronization in every circumstance. Hardware faults, connection problems, communication delays, and other technical issues can still affect match execution.
- Moving away from field control provides an opportunity to establish simpler, standardized match procedures that reduce dependence on complex technical infrastructure.
- Updated game manuals will clearly define and communicate the applicable start, stop, timing, and match-management procedures so that teams and event partners understand their responsibilities and matches remain fair and consistent.
- The objective is to reduce avoidable technical complications while maintaining clear expectations for competition operations.
7. Reducing Volunteer Burden and Improving the Student Experience
- Volunteers are essential to the success of RECF competitions. Their time should be spent supporting students, ensuring fair play, facilitating matches, and creating a positive educational environment.
- When volunteers must repeatedly troubleshoot field faults, replace damaged cables, address communication problems, or investigate why a robot is not responding, the competition experience suffers.
- Reducing equipment complexity can make volunteer training more straightforward, lower the technical burden on event staff, and help events stay on schedule.
- Most importantly, it allows event personnel to focus on the students and the educational value of the competition rather than the limitations of the equipment supporting it.
8. Supporting the Long-Term Growth of RECF Programs
As RECF continues to expand Achieve and Inspire, our operational model must be scalable. A competition structure that depends on additional specialized equipment and technical expertise can make expansion more difficult, particularly in schools and communities with limited resources.
A simpler approach to competition operations can help RECF:
- Encourage more schools and organizations to host events.
- Reduce the initial investment required of new event partners.
- Support growth in underserved and resource-constrained communities.
- Improve the consistency of event setup and volunteer training.
- Create a more adaptable foundation for future program development.
These benefits align with RECF's broader commitment to growing access to meaningful robotics competition opportunities.
9. Maintaining Competition Integrity and Fairness
- Moving away from field control does not mean lowering RECF's expectations for fair competition, safety, or consistent match execution.
- RECF will continue to establish and enforce competition rules, technical requirements, and event procedures designed to provide teams with a consistent and equitable experience. Event partners will be expected to follow the published procedures for match timing, starts, stops, and other applicable operational requirements.
- As with any program improvement, implementation will require clear communication, appropriate guidance, and a consistent approach across events.
Next Steps
As RECF moves forward with this transition, the most significant change for teams will be preparing for alliance matches by creating two separate sets of code: one for autonomous and one for driving.
Resources
A separate library article has been created to help teams as they transition away from field control.
Looking Ahead
This decision represents an opportunity to make the RECF Achieve and RECF Inspire competitions a unique experience.
By reducing unnecessary equipment dependencies, simplifying event operations, lowering costs, and opening the door to a broader range of robotics technologies, RECF can build a more accessible and sustainable competition ecosystem.
We recognize that teams and event partners have invested time, effort, and resources in the systems they currently use. We appreciate those investments and the role these systems have played in supporting our competitions. As we move forward, RECF will communicate the applicable requirements and procedures to help stakeholders understand and prepare for the transition.
We believe that reducing unnecessary complexity and expanding access to technology will help RECF Achieve and RECF Inspire serve more students, support more event partners, and continue to grow our programs in a sustainable manner.
Thank you for your continued commitment to robotics education and the students we serve.
Sincerely,
Robotics Education & Competition Foundation (RECF)