2025 Midwest Regional Load-In Details

Load-In Times

Wednesday, March 26, 2025: 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

-OR-

Thursday, March 27, 2025: 7:45 AM - 9:00 AM

Load-In Procedure

Load-In hours are to allow teams to locate their assigned pit space in the gym and bring in their robot, tools, prefabricated materials, and pit materials.

Load-In will only be allowed through Door 32 located on the west side of Forest View Educational Center in Parking Lot C. Please enter team trailers and buses to be unloaded through the south entrance of Lot C and proceed to the Loading Zone along the west side of the building near door 32 (see load-in/load-out map).

Parking in the Loading zone will be limited to 10 min. Each team vehicle will be issued a sign with their team number to place on their dashboard by the load-in coordinators. Please keep these in your cars displayed during load-out on Saturday.

Please do not leave vehicles in the loading zone unattended. The driver must remain with the vehicle. After your 10 min unloading time, vehicles will be required to be moved either in a different area in Lot C, or if team trailers are parked overnight for the regional, trailers must only be parked in Lot A on the north side of Forest View near door 4 (please refer to parking map). Oversized vehicles, trailers, and buses must be parked in Lot A during the competition. Please note overnight parking is at your own risk.

As teams arrive and begin to unload their vehicles in the loading zone, teams may stage their robot, tools, and pit materials in the staging area outside door 32.

Once your team has staged your materials and are ready to enter the building:

Teams will be allowed a maximum of 5 load-in crew (This includes at least one adult member or teacher).
Please be patient and mindful of other teams. We anticipate a lot of teams loading in on Wednesday evening.

Load-In Restrictions

No Food or Drink is allowed in the Pit area (North Gym) at any time per the building contract. This includes snacks and drinks for your team. Food is permitted in the team cafeteria and fieldhouse Starting Thursday at 9 AM. Please leave food or drink in your vehicles until the start of the event on Thursday.
Only 5 team members will be allowed to bring in materials. At least one of those team members must be an adult mentor on the team (18+ years of age and not a high school student). Otherwise, any combination of mentors and team members is acceptable.
Safety glasses will not be required during early load-in if you are just dropping off pit items and your robot. If you are building your pit, safety glasses WILL be required.
Teams are encouraged to make minimal trips in with their robot and equipment.
After team members have dropped off their materials and set up their pit, they are to exit the pit area until the pits officially open on Thursday at 8:30 AM. Teams bringing in their equipment on Wednesday evening are not allowed back in until the pits open on Thursday at 8:30 AM.
Attention: Teams can only bring fabricated items in during the team’s initial load-in period as described in Rule E401 of this year’s FIRST Robotics Competition Game Manual.
No work may be done on the robot until the pits officially open Thursday at 8:30 AM.
During Load-In, teams are limited to the Pit area (North Gym) in the building only.
Once Load-In ends at 9:00 AM on Thursday, Door 32 will be closed until load-out on Saturday. All pit material, carts, or robots must exit through Door 32 on Saturday.

Load-Out Procedures

Load-out on Saturday will be through Door 32 on the west side of Forest View Educational Center. Please follow the instructions for Load-In for lining up in the loading zone. Teams may stage equipment on the sidewalk while waiting to be loaded into their team vehicles. Do not leave equipment unattended.

Please display the team sign/card you received at load-in from the load-in coordinators on the dash of the loading vehicle in the loading zone. Teams will be allowed to be parked for 10 min in the loading zone. Once loaded, teams must park oversized vehicles in Lot A until ready to leave the venue.