The Judging Interview

Lesson

In the judging interview, a small group of judges talks with your team about your robot, your process and how you work together. It is a conversation, not an exam. Judges want to understand what you did and why, and they want to hear it from the students. A team that has practised can explain its work calmly, even when a question is unexpected.

What judges generally look for

Student ownership: students explain the work themselves and clearly understand it.
Process: how you identified problems, considered options, tested and improved.
Evidence: numbers, photos and pages in your portfolio that back up what you say.
Teamwork: everyone contributes and the team listens to each other.
Honesty: you can talk about failures and what you learned from them.

Judges often ask about your process. Be ready to walk through these steps using one real example.

Build a short team presentation

TEXT

11. Introduction       - team name, who we are, our goal
22. Strategy           - what we decided the robot should do and why
33. Robot tour         - main subsystems, one design decision each
44. Programming        - Autonomous and Driver-Controlled (TeleOp) highlights
55. Testing story      - one problem, the data, what changed
66. Team and outreach  - how we organise and what we learned
77. Close              - next steps, then invite questions

An illustrative outline. Adjust the timing to the time actually allowed at your event.

Assign speakers

Speaker roles can follow your team's sub-teams, so each person talks about the work they did.

Topic	Main speaker	Backup	Evidence to show
Strategy	Strategy lead	Driver	Strategy page in the portfolio
Drivetrain and mechanisms	Build member	CAD member	Robot and CAD screenshots
Programming	Programmer	Second programmer	Autonomous path and code snippet
Testing	Any member who ran the tests	Log owner	Test table or chart

Practise likely questions

Likely question	Weak answer	Stronger answer (illustrative)
Why did you choose this drivetrain?	It looked good.	We compared three options in a decision matrix; this one scored best on speed and ease of building. It is on page 4.
What was your biggest failure?	Nothing really failed.	Our first lift was too slow. We measured it, changed the gear ratio and cut the lift time noticeably.
Who wrote the code?	Our mentor helped a lot.	Two of us wrote it. Our mentor reviewed it and taught us how to debug with telemetry.
What would you improve next?	Everything.	Intake reliability at full speed. We have a test planned for next week.

Bring the robot and portfolio

The robot, in working condition, with a charged battery.
Your portfolio, plus any extra materials your event allows (check the rules).
A small demo plan: one action you can show safely in a small space.
Your speaker plan, so everyone knows their topic.

Rehearsal checklist

1
Set up a mock room
Ask mentors, parents or another team to act as judges. Use a timer.
2
Run the presentation
Every member speaks. Stay inside the planned time.
3
Take surprise questions
Mock judges ask questions from your list and at least two the team has not seen.
4
Check the details
Did everyone speak? Did you show evidence? Did anyone interrupt? Was the robot handled safely?
5
Improve and repeat
Write down two things to fix, change them and rehearse again.

Key terms

Judging interview: A conversation in which judges ask your team about its robot, process and teamwork.
Speaker plan: A list of interview topics with a main speaker, a backup and the evidence to show for each.
Student ownership: Students doing and clearly understanding the work, and explaining it themselves.
Mock interview: A practice interview with people acting as judges, used to find and fix weaknesses.
Gracious Professionalism: A FIRST value: competing hard while treating everyone with kindness and respect.

Practical exercise

Run a mock judging interview

1Check the current Competition Manual and event information for interview format and timing.
2Write a presentation outline that fits the allowed time, with one timed section per topic.
3Fill in a speaker plan with a main speaker, a backup and evidence for each topic.
4Write at least eight likely questions and short answer notes that point to real evidence.
5Run two timed mock interviews with surprise questions and record feedback after each one.

Deliverable: A presentation outline, a speaker plan, a list of at least eight questions with answer notes, and written feedback from two rehearsals.

Knowledge check

Answer every question, then check your answers.

In this lesson you will