Competitive Membership Terms and Conditions

2026–2027 program year (July 1, 2026 – May 31, 2027) · Last updated July 20, 2026

By enrolling in a competitive membership plan offered by Knuckle Sandwich Robotics Inc. (KSR), you (the parent or legal guardian) and your student agree to the terms below. If you enroll through the KSR website, your electronic acceptance at checkout constitutes your signature and agreement to these terms.

1. Membership Plans and Parent Participation

KSR offers two membership plans, and families select one at enrollment.

Involved Parent Plan — At least one parent or guardian per team is on-site and actively available to support the team at every scheduled practice. Families on this plan also meet the tournament volunteer requirement in Section 5.

Hands-Off Plan — For families who cannot commit a parent to support their team. This plan carries a higher rate because the supervision and logistics that parents normally provide are instead absorbed by staff.

KSR schedules practices so that at least two teams meet at the same time, and the program depends on a baseline of adults who are on-site and reachable during each session to help students stay on task and on schedule.

2. Term and Renewal

• Membership is an annual membership for the program year, July 1 through May 31, paid in 11 monthly payments.

• Enrolling commits your family to the full annual membership. This is a season commitment, not a month-to-month subscription: teams, coaches, and competition registrations are built around your student for the whole season.

• The membership expires automatically on May 31 and does not renew. Re-enrollment each season is a new agreement. New enrollment is accepted June through early Fall only; inquiries received after that are held for the following June, with exceptions at the discretion of the site lead.

• If a student stops attending, membership fees remain due and payable for the full term.

3. Payment, Refunds, and Withdrawal

Rates are per student:

• Involved Parent Plan: 11 monthly payments of $175 (a $1,925 annual membership).

• Hands-Off Plan: 11 monthly payments of $295 (a $3,245 annual membership).

Payments are due on the 1st of each month. If a payment fails, we will notify you and retry; participation may be paused until the account is current.

Fees are nonrefundable and support KSR's nonprofit program costs. Enrolling commits the family to the full program-year amount for the plan selected. Withdrawing before the end of the program year, or having membership terminated, does not relieve the remaining annual balance. Refunds are issued only if KSR cancels the program.

Membership dues are payment for program services and are not a tax-deductible donation.

4. What Membership Includes

• Two practices per week per team, each two hours long (the facility may be closed up to six weeks per year).

• Team registration.

• Entry to five or more local robotics competitions, subject to the team's strategic choices.

• Access to equipment for building competitive robots.

• Facilities to design, notebook, build, program, and practice.

Fees do not cover travel, signature events, state championships, or world events.

5. Volunteer Requirement and Cost-Offset Options

Involved Parent Plan families provide an adult volunteer at two KSR-hosted tournaments during the membership year, in a role such as Judge Advisor, Head Referee, or Judge. KSR will share volunteer roles, dates, and locations at least 30 days before each event. Students are encouraged to volunteer, but the requirement must be met by someone 18 years of age or older as of the event date.

Waiver option: An Involved Parent Plan family may opt out of the volunteer requirement by paying the Hands-Off rate ($295 per month) instead of $175 per month. A family that intends to volunteer but does not complete the two tournaments will be back-charged the difference between the Involved Parent and Hands-Off rates for the full season.

Earn-down: Once the two-event minimum is met, adults may volunteer additional hours at KSR-hosted tournaments to offset monthly fees at a rate to be set. Student hours do not count toward fee offset unless the student is 18 or older.

Discounts and scholarships may be available to offset a portion of monthly fees for Involved Parent Plan families who fulfill the volunteer requirement and do not choose the waiver option. They are not available under the Hands-Off Plan.

6. Team Structure and Roles

Each team should consist of 5 members and 1 coach. The oldest team member's age determines the team's competition division. If a team drops below 5 paying members, the members, coach, and director will work together to find a fifth; if the team chooses not to add one, it will cover the equivalent monthly fees.

Throughout the season, team members take on different tasks — notebooking, building, programming, and driving — and all members take part in each of these at practice. For middle and high school teams, the coach identifies each student's primary role and expects work in that role at home; primary roles may shift across the season at the coach's discretion. Driving positions at competitions are earned through both quantitative and qualitative criteria; for elementary teams, all students are encouraged to drive and earn drive time by reaching coach-set benchmarks.

7. Student Expectations

Students are members of a competitive engineering team, and the standard is professionalism:

• Treat teammates, coaches, volunteers, other teams, and officials with respect at practice and at every competition. Bullying, harassment, or unsafe behavior is never acceptable.

• Follow the Global Robotics Code of Conduct and Youth Protection Policy, and all KSR safety rules: use tools as instructed, no horseplay, report injuries or unsafe conditions immediately.

• Commit the time: roughly 10 hours per week including practices, and at least 80% attendance at both practices and competitions. Tell your coach ahead of time about absences.

• Care for the lab and equipment: return tools and parts, keep your workspace clean, and leave the shop in equal or better condition than you found it.

• Contribute to the whole team — everyone notebooks, builds, programs, and practices.

• Communicate with your team between practices on a regular basis through Microsoft Teams.

8. Parent and Guardian Expectations

Parents make this program work, and every family agrees to:

• Meet your plan's participation requirement (Section 1), including the Involved Parent volunteer commitment (Section 5).

• Stay reachable during every practice (both plans). If a student's behavior becomes harmful or disruptive, we will call you, and you agree to pick your student up within 15 minutes and to attend their next practice with them.

• Model the sportsmanship we teach. At competitions, parents respect judges, referees, event volunteers, and other teams. This includes no sideline coaching disputes and no confrontations with officials. Concerns go to your coach or a KSR director, not the event floor.

• Communicate respectfully with coaches, staff, and other families, and keep your contact information current.

• Log in to Microsoft Teams to provide oversight for the work that the kids are doing.

• Submit to a background check. Background checks are required of any adult who may end up in the shop for a practice.

9. Coach Expectations

Each team must provide a coach who passes a background check through the Global Robotics and Science Foundation or KSR. KSR supports coaches throughout the season through the local Director and an experienced robotics coach. The coach, or a designated adult, attends practices to provide supervision and guidance unless a schedule exception is approved in advance. The coach or a designated adult is responsible for transporting the robot to and from competitions. Any transportation provided to students by coaches, parents, or directors is provided in a personal capacity and not on behalf of KSR.

10. Technology Requirements (Family-Provided)

Each team member must have access to a Windows PC or MacBook capable of running the required team software, to bring to meetings and use at home, and reliable internet access for Teams, virtual sessions, communication with teammates, and schedule updates.

11. Equipment Management and Checkout

General parts (open use): structural components, fasteners, gears, and other commonly available items may be used freely during practice and returned to their designated storage at the end of each session.

Controlled assets (restricted use): high-value items such as robot brains, motors, controllers, batteries, sensors, and competition-ready robots are labeled with unique IDs and require formal checkout — logged to a specific student and team, condition-recorded, and returned by the agreed date (standard period 7 days for home use, for team development or competition preparation only).

The assigned student is responsible for proper use, timely return, and reporting damage immediately. Normal wear carries no penalty; negligence, misuse, loss, or non-return may be charged up to full replacement cost. Failure to follow checkout procedures may result in restricted access.

12. Lab Culture

KSR facilities operate as a shared engineering lab. Participants return tools and materials, keep workspaces clean, respect shared resources and other teams, and leave the space in equal or better condition than they found it. Failure to keep the shop space clean will be charged to the individual or team responsible at a rate of $2 per minute, with a $25 minimum. Code and notebooks are stored in shared team locations so no single student is the sole owner of critical work.

13. Conduct and Enforcement

All participants — students, parents, coaches, and volunteers — uphold a standard of professionalism and respect, and follow the Global Robotics Code of Conduct and Youth Protection Policy.

Behavior that is harmful, unsafe, or disruptive — by a student or a parent — is addressed directly: first with a conversation and a defined window to improve, then suspension from activities, and as a last resort dismissal from the program. Safety violations may result in immediate dismissal. KSR reserves the right to dismiss any student when it deems it necessary.

Conduct by a student or a parent that is detrimental to KSR — including its students, staff, reputation, facilities, or partnerships — may result in dismissal from the program. Nothing in these terms limits KSR's legal rights or remedies for unlawful conduct, including defamation, harassment, or misuse of KSR property or intellectual property.

Dismissal does not relieve the remaining term balance, except as provided below. For a removal based on lack of effort or engagement — after the improvement process above — the family pays a flat exit fee of $350 in place of the remaining balance and owes nothing further for the program year. On removal or withdrawal, the student must immediately return all checked-out equipment in equal or better condition.

14. Pickup

All parents or guardians come to the door to pick up their child; children are not released on their own. Approved guardians should be listed on the approved pickup document, and staff may ask anyone picking up a child to show identification. You are welcome to join us in the shop, especially the last ten minutes.

On-time pickup is required. Practice ends at the stated time, followed by a 10-minute grace period for unplanned delays. Because late pickup places a significant burden on staff, a fee of $2 per minute applies to any pickup outside the grace period, calculated from the end of practice.

15. Photo and Media Release (a condition of membership)

Robotics is a team sport in a shared shop: practices, competitions, and team documentation are photographed and recorded as a normal part of the program. By enrolling, you grant KSR permission to photograph and record your student during practices, competitions, camps, and other program activities, and to use those images and recordings in KSR materials — including the KSR website, social media, newsletters, engineering documentation, sponsor and grant reporting, or any other reasonably related activity — without compensation. This release is a required condition of membership for every member; KSR does not offer photo-exempt enrollment. Adults who participate in the program (parents, coaches, and volunteers) likewise agree that they may appear in program photos and recordings.

KSR takes how we use these images seriously:

• Every photo is reviewed and approved before publishing — nothing goes up unmoderated.

• Students are identified publicly by first name and last initial at most, never with school, address, or other personal details.

• If a specific published image concerns your family, tell us and we will review it promptly. Removal of an individual image is at KSR's discretion and does not change the release above.

Families agree to the same standard in return: do not publicly post identifiable photos of other KSR students without their family's consent.

16. Safety and Liability

All participants maintain a safe working environment by using tools properly and as instructed, avoiding horseplay or unsafe behavior, following all electrical and mechanical safety guidelines, and reporting injuries or unsafe conditions immediately.

Participation in robotics activities, including the use of tools, equipment, and robots, involves inherent risks, and minor injuries may occur despite reasonable care. By participating, students and guardians acknowledge and accept these risks and agree that KSR, its volunteers, staff, mentors, officers, and partner organizations are not responsible for injuries, damages, or losses resulting from participation. Participants and guardians further agree to release, indemnify, and hold harmless KSR from any claims arising from accidents, equipment use, supervision, or activities conducted during programs, workshops, competitions, or related events, except in cases of gross negligence or intentional misconduct.

17. Intellectual Property

Any curriculum, tools, or code examples provided by KSR are intended solely for use by enrolled teams and may not be distributed, reproduced, or resold without written permission.

18. Program Changes

KSR reserves the right to modify curriculum content, delivery format, or schedules as needed to meet student needs or respond to tournament rule changes. Practices may occasionally be canceled or rescheduled with reasonable notice.

19. Acceptance

Enrolling through the KSR website and accepting the plan terms at checkout constitutes your agreement to these Terms and Conditions.

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Questions before you enroll? Call, text, or email Jody Beck at (205) 482-2805 or jbeck@ksbots.org. We would love to have your student with us.