2027 CREATE U.S. Open Robotics Tournament

Welcome to the CREATE Foundation U.S. Open Robotics Tournament.  The U.S. Open has grown into one of the largest robotics tournaments in the world and we hope you can join us in 2027.

We expect the 2027 U.S. Open to be the biggest and best yet. Regular season tournaments from across the United States and Canada are qualifiers for this event.  Teams from the rest of the world are invited on a country-by-country basis.  We wish all teams the very best of luck.

There are four distinct tournaments in this multifaceted event.  This is the Achieve - High School Tournament.  If you are looking for one of our other tournaments: Achieve- Middle School or, Engage Middle School Tournament, or Engage Elementary, please return to the main RECF Events page and select the proper tournament. 

Please be advised that you will have 3 weeks from the date of your qualifying tournament to register for the U.S. Open.  Once registered, you will have 3 weeks to pay.  Teams that miss the payment deadline will be moved to the waitlist.  If any teams are invited off the waitlist they will be notified, at the earliest, February 1.

Please Note:  The last group of invitations will go out on Feb. 10th.  

Remote Judging

Remote Judging will be used this year for all High School Achieve. Remote judging requires each team to sign up for a time on Signup Genius requesting a Remote Judging time. Each team will also have the opportunity to submit their digital notebook for review.  REC judging guidelines will be used for all Remote interviews.  You must participate in the remote judging to be considered for any judged awards at the U.S. Open.

All teams are encouraged to be judged by signing up for remote judging.   If there is a need for face-to-face interviews, teams will be given a notification when they arrive at the in-person event. 

Sign up for Achieve High School Remote judging team interview HERE.  (coming soon)

NOTE: Spots are limited due to limited volunteer remote judges.  If we get more volunteer judges, more spots will be added.  Email support@create-found.org to sign up to be a remote judge.  If you are interested in being a remote judge sign up HERE. 

Volunteer

To sign up to volunteer at this RECF Achieve High School Event click HERE.

Tournament Code of Conduct

CREATE Sponsored and Co-sponsored events require teams to understand and accept a Tournament Code of Conduct. This Code of Conduct will help clarify the role of students and adults at CREATE events. Please be sure to read through the entire CREATE Tournament Code of Conduct and be sure that all members of your team understand it as well. We believe these simple rules will help everyone have a great experience.

Participant Waiver Information

(Coming Soon)

Qualification Criteria

For all official 2026-2027 RECF tournaments in North America, the following award winners will qualify for the  2027 CREATE U.S. Open Robotics Tournament (international teams will be invited on a case-by-case decision):

PLEASE ALLOW up to 2 weeks after the end of your tournament for invitations to be sent.  You will receive instructions via email from support@create-found.org on how to register for this event.

Waitlist

Teams on the waitlist that have qualified for the U.S. Open will be given preference over non-qualified teams.  Being invited off of the waitlist is not a guarantee of participation.  Once the event has filled the invitation will become null and void. 

Qualified teams on the waitlist will be invited in the order they have added their teams to the waitlist, not the date of their qualification.

Teams on the waitlist from schools/organizations that have reached the individual school/organization team maximum will be invited last off the waitlist.

Invitations are NOT a Guarantee of Participation

Often, tournaments within the U.S. Open Event will fill before our registration deadline.  When it fills, there are normally many active invitations outstanding. But once filled, these invitations become null and void.  When a tournament fills, registration is permanently closed to domestic teams.  We do not expand capacity, and no teams will be taken off of the waitlist.  Even if teams cancel, those spots are not opened back up.  The reason is that we set our capacity about 10% over our optimal capacity in anticipation of a certain number of teams canceling.  This is something that happens every year.  We feel this is the fairest way to handle the registration process and precludes the necessity to continually check back.  We hope this finality allows for clear planning on the part of all teams.  We are sorry that we cannot accommodate all the teams that want to attend and are humbled by the great number of teams that do attend.  We also want to ensure a world-class event, and limiting registrations to an optimal number of teams is an important step in accomplishing this goal. 

Capacity Changing Over Time

If you continue to monitor this tournament, you may find that the overall capacity may increase over time.  This is to accommodate international teams.  We reserve a certain number of spots for international teams and hold those spots for them, as often they are not able to commit until later in the year.  If we did not hold them, most tournaments would fill with U.S. teams only, thus greatly reducing the international flavor of our event.  Our desire is to be fair to all teams, while balancing our desire to create an environment where cultural exchange is possible and encouraged.

Note on the need for an Interpreter

CREATE looks forward to hosting teams from around the world and teams with varying abilities to understand spoken English.  Please understand that our organization is simply not equipped to provide translation services, and all interviews, matches, and interactions at the tournament will be in spoken English.  Should your team need an interpreter we welcome you bringing one or more as needed.  Your team-provided interpreter will be included and welcomed as part of the team and will be allowed special access to interviews and matches to ensure your team has the best experience possible.

Judging Format

• All Remote Judging - The Initial Team Interviews will be conducted remotely, and Engineering Notebooks will be submitted to judges digitally.   Information regarding this will be sent to teams once their registration and payment are completed.
• Initial Interviews and Notebook submission deadlines may be scheduled ahead of the event date.  You MUST participate in remote judging to be considered for judged awards!

• If you are interested in being a remote judge for the U.S. Open sign-up HERE. (coming soon)

Things to keep in mind:

1. Interview times are set up by CREATE of selected dates and interview spots are offered as judges are available.  Interviews are conducted by volunteer judges and are therefore only available as judges are willing to volunteer.

2. Teams are responsible for finding a spot and signing up.  The volume of teams makes it impossible to let teams set an interview time.  They must select from the times that are available.

3. Information about remote interviews goes out in group emails and is posted on the event main page at events.vex.com.  The CREATE Foundation does its best to get this information to all teams but teams should be proactive in checking this information for their own benefit.

4. Once the window for remote judging is closed for a group the opportunity to have a remote interview is over due to the other tasks that must be completed prior to the in-person events.

5. We will always try to accommodate everyone but must set rules and, in order to be fair to ALL teams, abide by those rules.

Emergency/Bad Weather Policy

Due to the nature of scheduling an event of this size there is no viable way to have contingency dates due to weather and weather-related events.

Refund and Payment Policies

All requests for refunds must be made in writing via email.  Full refunds will be granted to requests made prior to 1/1/2027.  Refunds of $400 will be issued to teams requesting a refund after 12/31/26 and prior to 1/15/20027. $200 refunds will be issued to teams requesting a refund prior to 2/19/2027. No refunds will be issued after 2/19/2027.  (In rare cases where the user registered for the wrong event, AND CREATE is notified within 48 hours of registration, a full refund might be granted after 12/31/2026.)

It may not be possible to refund 100% of the registration fees should we encounter another government (Federal, State, City, or Local Health Department) mandated shut down.  We will endeavor to refund as much as possible, but we want all teams to understand that we cannot guarantee 100% refund due to the fact that we will have many non-refundable expenditures required in the planning an event of this type and size.  Also, we will not be able to offer refunds beyond what is stated above should your travel plans be restricted by your state, school district or school.