Qualifying for Championship… My Proposition
I. The Problem
____A: Championship is getting too big for it’s current format. Therefore, it needs to be changed. FIRST has admitted this. This is my proposition as to how teams should qualify for the Championship Event. There are a lot of different ideas floating around the robotics community as to how this can be done. Some suggest expanding the event and having the event in a larger venue. Others suggest making it harder to qualify, thus increasing the quality of teams competing on the field. Other suggestions try to keep the integrity of particular awards. My solution simply tries to appease the most people while creating a logical solution as to how teams should qualify for the Championship Event.
II. Points Breakdown
____A: Awards Points 40%
________1. Points given at a Regional Event
____________a: Regional Chairman’s Award: 3*t
____________b: Engineering Inspiration Award: 2*t
____________c: Rookie All-Star Award: 1.6*t OR 16*r; whichever is higher
____________d: Rookie Inspiration: 0.8*t OR 8*r; whichever is lower
____________e: Rookie Highest Seed 0.4*t OR 4*r: whichever is higher
____________f: Imagery Award: 0.2*t
____________g: Innovation in Control Award: 0.2*t
____________h: Xerox Creativity Award: 0.2*t
____________i: Engineering Excellence Award: 0.2*t
____________j Entrepreneurship Award: 0.2*t
____________k: Industrial Design Award: 0.2*t
____________l: Quality Award: 0.2*t
____________m: Gracious Professionalism Award: 0.2*t
____________n: Team Spirit Award: 0.2*t
____________o: Industrial Safety Award: 0.25*t
____________p: Woodie Flowers Finalist Award: 0.25*t
____________q: Dean’s List Finalist Award: 0.25*t
____________r: CoopertitionTM Award: 0.25*t
____________s Judges Award: 0.25*t
____________t: Website Award: 0.25*t
____________u: Autodesk Excellence in Design Award: 0.25*t
____________v: Regional Finalist: 0.75*t
____________w: Regional Winner: 1.5*t
________2. Points are taken from ONE event where the given team gained the BEST score out of all the regional events that team attended for the given season.
____B: Competition Points 40%
________1. Points given at regional events
____________a: Match Win: 2 Points
____________b: Match Tie: 1 Point
____________c: Match Loss 0 Points
____________d: Seeding: t - (s - 1)
____________e: Alliance Bonus
________________i: Backup Robots: 6.25 Points
____________f: Winning a match: Quarterfinals: 4 Points
____________g: Winning a match: Semifinals: 8 Points
____________h: Winning a match: Finals: 16 Points
________2. Points are taken from ONE event where the given team gained the BEST score out of all the regional events that team attended for the given season.
____C: Half-Bonus 20% - Bonus percentage added to the highest point total between competition and award points.
____D: The Top team with the best score in the Awards and/or Competition Portion will receive ALL the percentage points available (40%+20% Half-Bonus). All other teams scores will be based as that top score being the 100% of points mark, and zero being the 0% point mark.
________1. Please see the examples listed in section V. for a better understanding.
III. Qualifying for Championship
____A: Top 300 teams at the end of the Regional Season gain AUTOMATIC entry to the Championship Event: These teams are ranked in order by the following tie-breakers
________1. Total Points (with half-bonus)
________2. Total Points (without half-bonus)
________3. Total Award Points
________4. Total Competition Points
________5. Key Awards Point Total (RCA, REI, RAS)
________6. Coin Toss/Dice Roll
____B: These teams are put into divisions based on their point totals, The #1 Ranked Team will go to Newton, #2 to Archimedes, #3 to Curie, #4 to Galileo, and so on in a Serpentine Order.
____C: The next 32 teams who have won Key Awards at Regional Events will gain AUTOMATIC entry to the Championship Event. These teams will be ranked by their ranking total and be put into divisions the same way as all the other AUTOMATIC entry teams.
____D: The next 128 teams will gain PROVISIONAL entry to the Championship Event. These teams will compete for their chance to play in the Qualification Matches. These PRE-ELIMINATION matches will be played on Wednesday.
____E: PRE-ELIMINATION tournaments will take place on Wednesday with the following procedure.
________1. 4 PRE-ELIMINATION tournaments, one on each division; the teams who qualify for Qualification Matches will be placed in the division in which they competed in.
________2. PRE-ELIMINATION divisions will be determined the same way as AUTOMATIC entry divisions
________3. Each PRE-ELIMINATION Tournament will have 32 teams,
________4. Each team will play 6 qualification matches for seeding purposes in the PRE-ELIMINATION tournament (32 Qualification Matches Total)
________5. 4 Alliances of three teams will be formed to compete: alliance selection will NOT be in a serpentine order.
________6. The Winning Alliance will receive AUTOMATIC entry to the Championship event.
________7. ONE additional team will be rewarded AUTOMATIC entry to the Championship Event; this will be determined by the field personnel.
________8. The Schedule will be as follows
____________a: 11:00am – Qualification Matches begin
____________b: 2:30pm – Alliance Selection
____________c: 3:00pm – Elimination Matches Begin
____________d: 4:00pm – PRE-ELIMINATION Finals
IV. Various Bonuses
____A: If a team does not attend the previous year’s Championship Event: They will be allowed to retain 25% of their points in either the Awards or Competition portion of their point total. This bonus will not be counted in the Half-Bonus.
____B: If a team is invited to attend the previous year’s Championship Event and chooses not to. They will be allowed to retain 30% of their points in either the Awards or Competition portion of their point total. This bonus will not be counted in the Half-Bonus
____C: Winning an award at the Championship Event will earn your team a bonus percentage for your Awards portion for the following year. This bonus will be counted in the Half-Bonus unless otherwise stated.
________1. Chairman’s Award: 100%
________2. Engineering Inspiration: 75%
________3. Rookie All-Star Award: 45%
________4. Rookie Inspiration: 30%
________5. Rookie Highest Seed 15%
________6. Imagery Award: 10%
________7. Innovation in Control Award: 10%
________8. Xerox Creativity Award: 10%
________9. Engineering Excellence Award: 10%
________10. Entrepreneurship Award: 10%
________11. Industrial Design Award: 10%
________12. Quality Award: 10%
________13. Gracious Professionalism Award: 10%
________14. Team Spirit Award: 10%
________15. Industrial Safety Award: 12.5%
________16. Woodie Flowers Award: 15%*
________17. Dean’s List Finalist Award: 12.5%*
________18. CoopertitionTM Award: 12.5%
________19. Judges Award: 12.5%
________20. Website Award: 12.5%
________21. Autodesk Excellence in Design Award: 12.5%
________22. Division Finalist: 10%
________23. Division Winner: 20%
________24. Championship Finalist: 40%
________25. Championship Winner: 80%
____D: Hall of Fame Teams retain 100% of their point total for the previous year from both the Award and Competition portions. This bonus is also applied to the Half-Bonus
____E: Your success at the Championship will also allow you to earn a bonus on your Competition Portion for the following year.
________1. Divisional Quarterfinalist: 2%
________2. Divisional Semifinalist: 4%
________3. Divisional Finalist: 8%
________4. Divisional Champion: 15%
________5. Championship Finalist: 30%
________6. Championship Winner: 60%
____F: Bonus program will not be used in the first year of the new points system. EXCEPT for Section IV: Note D.
V. Examples (click image to enlarge)
VI. References
____A: Data Sources
________1. www.usfirst.org
________2. www.simbotics.org
____B: Formula and other marks made earlier in the outline
________1. t= # of teams at a given regional event.
________2. s= Team seeding
________3. r= # of rookie teams at a given regional event.
________4. *= Will not count for Half-Bonus in the following year.
VII: Notes
… I think it’s just me, but i may be overweighing RCA and EI;
… I have been told that awards like Industrial Design are more valuable than say, the Innovation in Control award. I disagree with this statement. These awards judge a single aspect of the team. Plus, those awards are a 3.3 point difference at the maximum. (66 Team regional: 13.2 vs. 16.5).
… I’ll add more notes as i think of them AND/OR if i get feedback.