When you use robotools.app, you're trusting us with your information and judging materials. We understand this is a big responsibility and are committed to protecting your privacy and handling all judging materials with the utmost confidentiality.
This policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, and how you can control your data and judging materials.
We do not collect analytics or usage data. This application contains no third-party analytics or tracking, and no usage data is sent anywhere for the purpose of measuring how the application is used.
The only information the server holds is what a Judges' Room or referee notes need in order to work: your event setup, teams, judges, rubrics and deliberation data, and the incidents referees log. That information exists so the devices at your event can share it with each other, it stays within the room that owns it, and destroying the room destroys it.
The people who operate this service can see a list of the events that exist on it, in order to support and maintain it. For each event this shows:
No judging content is visible to administrators. Rubrics, scores, notes, award nominations, rankings, team photos and notebook links are not readable through this, by design.
Administrators can also delete an event, and add or remove judges from one, in order to resolve support requests. Access is protected by a separate password held by the operator and is not available to event participants.
When you use robotools.app, you upload information about your event and create judging materials during the competition process. We store and process such data to provide the judging functionality:
Referees can use robotools.app to log incidents at the field and share them with the other referees at their event. Referee notes are kept in their own room, separate from any Judges' Room, with its own access links.
Incidents are about what a team's robot or drive team did on the field. Referees should record what happened and avoid writing anything personal about a student beyond what the record needs.
Each referee has their own access link, which signs them in as themselves and should not be passed on. A referee's email address is optional and used only to send them their link when a Head Referee or Judge Advisor chooses to, and to warn Head Referees before inactive notes are deleted. It is stored with the event's referee notes and deleted with them.
A Head Referee can delete the event's referee notes at any time, which deletes their database file outright: incidents, referees, email addresses and links together. Removing a referee stops their link working; incidents they logged are kept, with their name. Referee notes follow the same schedule as Judges' Rooms: after six days with nobody using them, Head Referees with an email address are warned, and after seven they are deleted permanently. Head Referees can export the incidents as a spreadsheet beforehand.
We treat all data stored in the judges' room as highly sensitive information that must be protected at all times.
robotools.app runs on infrastructure we operate directly. Each Judges' Room is stored in its own separate SQLite database on the server, and team interview photos are stored inside that same database rather than in any shared or public storage. One room cannot read another's data, and destroying a room deletes its database file outright — the judging data, the access links and the photos all go together, with nothing left behind in a second system.
All communications between your browser and our servers are encrypted over TLS/SSL (HTTPS) to protect your data from being intercepted or tampered with. Server backups are held by us and are not shared with any third party.
The software behind robotools.app is open source and can be run independently by anyone who prefers to keep their judging environment entirely under their own control. This privacy policy applies only to robotools.app. A separately operated installation is the responsibility of whoever runs it, including its data handling, privacy compliance and security.
When you join a judges' room, all individuals who can access the judges' room will have access to your input information, including any data you upload or create during the judging process.
Each person is given their own access link, which is the credential for the room. An access link identifies the person holding it, so anyone who has it can enter the room as that person. To protect the confidentiality of judging material, judges and Judge Advisors should not pass their link on to anyone else, and a Judge Advisor should reissue any link that goes astray. Event groups, and rooms created before links became individual, are additionally protected by a Judge Advisor PIN.
You can modify your data at any time while the judges' room is active. This includes updating your evaluations, notes, and any other information you've contributed to the judging process.
To delete your information, you can ask your judge advisor to remove your name from the Event Setup page, or request that the entire judges' room be destroyed. Each judges' room is a single database file, holding its judging data, its access links, any recorded email addresses and its interview photos. Destroying the room deletes that file outright, and the data cannot be restored.
A room that is created but never used is discarded automatically within the hour.
Events are also deleted on a schedule, so that judging material does not sit on the server indefinitely because nobody remembered to remove it. After six days with nobody using an event, the Judge Advisor is emailed a warning; after seven, the event is deleted permanently — rubrics, notes, photos and access links together. An event with anyone connected is never deleted, and simply opening one resets the clock. Judge Advisors can export the award winners and the deliberation record as a PDF beforehand; that export deliberately excludes rubric scores and judge notes.
In accordance with the Global Robotics & Science Foundation (GRSF) VEX Competition judging guidelines confidentiality principles, all judging materials are strictly confidential. We treat all data stored in the judges' room as highly sensitive information that must be protected at all times.
While we do store and process your judging materials as necessary to provide the service functionality, we maintain strict confidentiality protocols. Your judging data is never shared with third parties or external services beyond our secure infrastructure. We do not maintain logs or records of judging content for purposes other than providing the judging system functionality. When the Judge Advisor confirms to destroy the data at the end of the event, all judging materials are permanently deleted and cannot be restored.
This approach ensures complete compliance with the judging confidentiality requirements outlined in the Confidential principle for judges and the Secure materials step of judging deliberations in the GRSF judging guidelines. robotools.app is designed to fully comply with GRSF requirements, particularly regarding confidentiality, impartiality, and proper handling of judging materials.
We may update this privacy policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or applicable regulations. Any significant changes will be communicated through the application interface. We encourage users to review this policy periodically.
If you have any questions or concerns about this privacy policy, our data handling practices, or the robotools.app application, please contact us at [email protected].
Last updated: October 2026