Red Advantage ?
 

Does the Red alliance have an advantage over the Blue?

George Williams (60) asked my dad if he had noticed that the red alliance had an advantage over the blue in the finals at the Sacramento Regional. He went on to say that he noticed blue only won two matches during the finals at that regional. George’s thought was that the red tetras had better visual perception than the blue tetras. My dad and I decided to put a spreadsheet together to determine if this might be true. We took the final's match results from each regional that FIRST posted on their website. Not all of the results were posted, so we used the data that was available as of the evening of 3-12-05 6:00 pm MST. We put the data into our spreadsheet to analyze it. We did notice that there are discrepancies in the team numbers and we can only assume that the scores are correct. Based on this information it looks as though the red alliance does have at least an 18% advantage over the blue alliance.

If anyone has new or corrected data please send it to me at Krystinet@hotmail.com. I will continue to update the spreadsheet as more data becomes available.

--Krystine Thoroughman

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

that makes sense since red is a warm color(see i payed attention in art class) it stands out more than blue

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

I think this assumption is just a feeble human mind trying to find some sort of correlation in truly random events, like saying your iPod is playing favorites while on shuffle mode. :)

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

Is it possible the "advantage" is because the higher seed is generally red?


Edit:
In the first round, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th seeds are red, and the 5th, 6th 7th and 8th seeds are blue. In the semi-finals, the 1st and 2nd seeds are red (or the 7th or 8th seed if there was an upset), etc.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

Coincidence I think. Also, can you fill us in on what happened using the Phoenix update thread?

[edit]I just saw that you're on team 254, but I know who your dad is and I know he's on team 60, so now I'm confused[/edit]

[edit 2]Don't trust the results from Phoenix either, because they're mostly incorrect/backwards[/edit2]

Thanks,
Daniel

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

i think its just a matter of how well the eye can spot certain colors from far distances, and line up their robots with it.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

Agrees with Joe Ross.

As coach for our drive team, I certainly didn't notice any perceivable difference between the two sides, save the giant real time scoring system(but it wasn't working at all during FLR). Perpahs you should compile all scores from regionals and then analyzed them for descrepancies.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

Pulling out my calculator and doing a quick 1-proportion z-test, if the true proportion of red wins is 50%, then this observed proportion of 62% would occur 0.7% of the time. Thus, we can conclude that something is up.

I agree that red alliances are often higher seeded alliances and may play a large part.

As a driver and member of a team whose color is red, I prefer red to blue.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

I'll agree with Joe. If this discrepency is this large in just the quals, then it might mean something, but the elims are obviously not a truly random sample. I think you'd need a bit large sample size as well to actually conclude something.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

A bigger sample does not make it any more random. This cluster sample of elimination matches is (and can be) assumed to be representative of all elimination matches.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

In the elimination rounds (QF,SF,F) the scoring system places the higher seed alliance in the Red Zone, so one should expect better results. In fact, if the results were equal between Red and Blue (50/50), then the Blue End would have an advantage.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

But Kevin's point is that the choice of colors in the eliminations is not random. All that has been proven is that higher seeds have an advantage in the elims, not that a certain color has an advantage.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

I don't know if this matters but our team at the st. Louis regional preferred the blue side.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

You and Kevin are correct, the highest seeded alliance is always placed in the red zone by the computer. In fact, its a great communist conspiracy to mold the mind of teenagers into equating Reds with winners. (They tried with baseball but this lost effectiviness decades ago). Interestingly enough, at GLR in the QF's Blue won 50% including the most improbable Alliance 1 vs 8.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

No, it's a Republican conspiracy. :eek:

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

In Sacramento the number one alliance (1097, 254, 114) were blue in the final match at the Sacramento Regional. and 1097 was seeded number one, 254 was seeded number two. Therefore the highest seeded alliance is not always red.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

All I know s the version of the software we used at GLR put the higher seed in red every time. Considering the amount of updates to the scoring system (at least 2/day) I would not be suprised if it has changed.
Ben

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

I dunno about all your theories, but I definitely think red has an advantage... I play much better on red...

This is because we go to the auto loade a LOT during a match. Our practice feild was set up with the auto loader on the left side, like it is on the red alliance. On the blue side however, the autoloader is on the right side. I think FIRST should have made the two halves of the field the same, rather than mirrored them like they did. Not a big deal, but it definitely makes it a touch easier for us on red side. (Red 2 is by far my favorite starting position)

I can see blue just fine... no difference (I like to think I have good eyes though)

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

Actually, I've noticed a red advantage also. I think it may actually have to do with scoring, rather than driving. I've noticed a lot more blue rows that don't get counted than I have red. It's probably the lighting... red is easier to see, as you guys said.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

:Looks back and forth quickly then puts on his tinfoil hat:

I don’t have much time...there watching me with there xray spy sats right now....The conspiracy that FIRST Is actually ran by communist Russia! Think about it, the tetra, if you put 5 of them together, you get the red star!!! OH NO THERE RIGHT OUT SIDE!!!!
AHHH

</Conspiracy theorist mode>

While this may be true, hasn’t Red vs. Blue been part of first since the start? Has anyone looked at Red vs. blue since the start of first? :D

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

Oh and by the way, it's been said before but:
This is simply part of the game challenge.

Deal with it (in a GP manner of course :) )

-Daniel

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

oh we're not complaining we're just theorizing because since its no longer build and people like me still have to wait 12 days until their regionals, so we have nothing better to do. I'm still going with that its because red is easier to see, but i cant be to sure cause i haven't competed yet.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

well has someone put the regular seeding matches' results together to see if red wins over blue in those?
since we're all thinking that in elims red is the higher seeded aliance--arent the seeding matches purely random?

~Stephanie
Team 1351

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

I just got home from the Pacific North West Regional and the blue side's controller box and wireless stuff kept dieing. We waited around for about 2 and a half hours today and about and hour yesterday while they fixed it. A lot of people there noticed about a 3-5 second delay on blue alliance robots until they regained control after autonomous mode, while red was instantaneous. Was anyone else there and noticed it?

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

I can't speak to there being any delay, as I never touched the controls, but Blue certainly seemed to have issues all competition long - breaking down three times for a total of about three hours of downtime.

However, I just reviewed out scouting info from the regional, and found that, if anything, blue had the advantage at the PNW regional:

blue won 37 times to red's 24 wins
blue scored 1640 total points to red's 1332

With hard numbers like these, I think its hard to say that red had any advantage this year.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

At GLR, it seemed like Blue was winning more...expescially in the quarter/semi finals, Red only won a few times. I really wanted to be blue, lol) I think it might have had something to do with the fact the coaches could see stuff better on the opposite side of the field due to the projected images from the camera man above the red driver station...But, we'll probably never know!

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

Something to note that I think may have been left out is that your environment also plays a role. Consider which side of the field that the jumbo-tron is over (if it's behind the blue, then red can see the top view of the field and live score whereas the blue teams coaches have to turn to see them), and which side the DJ is on (again, if it's on the blue side, after 3 matches, your coach is probally to hoarse to do much coaching ;) ).
As for so far, I'd hve to take the null as the standing hypothesis. With conflicting reports, I'll have to get some statistically signifigant proof from all match types with the higher-seed-to-the-red-side taken into account. I'll be sure to look out for this at Anapolis and Chesapeke though.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

On the FIRST site for the PTR, while the scores for red and blue are correct, the teams are reversed, so that the winning alliances look like they are loosing and vis versa. This also means that the high seeds are often in blue, since they usually won in the elimination rounds. This is going on for all scores from the qualifiers to the finals. You might want to adjust your analysis accordingly. :rolleyes:

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

Why would they put the screen above one alliance? At our event, the field was horizontal to the seating in the stadium and the screen was right in front of the audience, so it was between both of the alliances. Let me see if i can do a picture:

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

Sometimes they can fit more people into the stadium/arena if the screen area in your picture is another set of bleachers. Or maybe the floorplan lets people get around faster/better when the screen is set up behind one alliance. That doesn't mean anyone has to like it. It was this way at FLR and at a few of the regionals I've been to. It's harder for spectators to see, but as for the drive teams, it's not something you should need to look at anyway.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

Yeah, i don't know why a coach would want to look at the screen. They have the best view in the house as it is.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

Hey! In Sacramento I can tell you why red had more wins, the winning alliance was only red during the finals! My alliance (245, 766, and 1072) did not lose a single match during all of the finals, and may I add that most of our wins were obvious, like 70 to 25 ish. I doubt that the colour red had anything to do with it, but our alliance being better did. I must admit, I did like red better, but that was because the FIRST worker who took off the hanging tetra on that side was cool and we had many conversations with him.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

I'm not going one way or the other on the theory, but it was coincidental at Pittsburgh in Saturday afternoon matches that Red seemed to win a lot of matches. And the observation was made by my friend who had absolutely no knowledge of the game or FIRST. She said "Wow, the Red side seems to win an awful lot"... and then I noticed it too.. Sure it's just a random thing at some events..

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

its probably as people have said a result of what happens in elims. I dont remember us every being red in the elims (but im stupid and might have missed something) and we (with 245 and 766) won sacramento. I really think its just a combination of luck and how the elim system seems to work (unless thats luck as well :) )

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

Since most people are right-handed, the human players might have an advantage on the blue side since the tetras would be placed on the side of their "dominant" hand.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

Assuming that the FIRST match scores are correct: At the UCF regional this weekend, during qualifying the red alliance won 28 matches while the blue alliance won 42. One tie.

It looks like the theory is a little shaky.

Anyone want to do an analysis of all matches to date? I have to get back to work.:(

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

The higher seed in the elimination matches have been put on the red side. That being said, our alliance went undefeated as the #2 seed, defeating the #1 seed in the finals. We were red in the quarters and semis, but blue in the finals.

Fred

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

at the GLR, i was in the finals and was red and (in gamer terms) got owned

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

The reason we were put on the Blue side was due to a computer glitch. Accoriding to everyone, we were supposed to be on the red side, and they tried to fix it, but the computers weren't co-operating, so they instead just moved us to the blue side.

-Tony K

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

A little shaky? This thread needs to DIE A HORRIBLE DEATH. This is the second set of REAL HARD numbers anyone has offered on the subject. Once again, Blue won significantly more matches dduring qualification matches, the only truely random matches. Results of Final matches are not statistically valid because in many regionals, one color was always the higher seeded alliance. Let me reitterate the results from the PNW Regional:

If anything, blue has some sort of advantage. But I doubt even that. I think there is absolutely NOTHING to this theory. Lets move along.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

I agree with Joe on this one. ;) And someone had also said it...In the finals, the better teams(1-4) were on Red and the others(5-8) on blue, if I recall correctly.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

i think when someone reffered to colors they were talking about how easily visible they are to drivers, not the camera stuff

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

I started this thread not to say this side or that side is unfair…but simply to observe how color affects us. For example, why are stop signs red and caution signs yellow? Do certain colors catch our eye better then others? Can this affect our performance? I wanted to test this hypothesis with the FIRST competition. So far we do not have enough data to prove or disprove this theory. Maybe the red tetras are easier to see. But does this affect our ability to play the game?

FIRST has removed most of the data that we had, even though that was incomplete. Once we have more data, I will put the qualifying matches into my spreadsheet and see if red my have an advantage based on the number of wins and points scored.

--Krystine

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

I would recommend removing all elimination round matches from your data.

It is statistically biased such that the higher seeded teams are on the red side of the field. Yes, that is the way the brackets are supposed to work. There may be some exceptions, but there is still a statistical bias.

The qualifying round pairings and color assignments are pretty random, so that is where you are going to determine if there is a real statistical bias towards one color or the other.

So far, the only hard data that I have seen in this thread from the qualifying rounds indicates that blue might have an advantage over red. But the population pool is too small at this time to draw a valid conclusion.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

I was in GLR and HATED! the red side. I dont know why, but we always did better when we were on blue, always. We scored more points, won more. We had red in the semi finals and got creamed. I think that it might have been diffrent if we were on blue, we just always played better over there.


#1254!

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

where was the screen at the regional in question?? I know at GLR it was really easy for one alliance to see the screen, and the other had to turn around. Just a random observation.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

The screen is irrelivant. When your driving, and on the field, you sont want to look at the screen. You are looking on the field. I never once looked at the screen, and niether did my coach or other driver. It was behind the reds alliance.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

In 2003 it certainly was handy (when showing the right part of the field) for manoeuvring a 14"-tall robot among 18"-tall boxes, behind a 2'-tall ramp, over 40' away. I used it on a couple of occasions to accurately drive the robot in areas which would otherwise have been invisible.

Granted, this year, your robot will be a little easier to see.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

I don't know, during qualifying we had two "flukes" with the red stations, but by finals we played on the red side and didn't have a single problem, heck, we won.

Besides that thought, it think the visibility of different colors is an interesting idea. Think in our world, how many places you see lights that are white, yellow, orange, red, and green, all over the place. Ever time I see a blue light it's very unique, that's why I love flying at night. Look out a window sometime while flying at night, you can see every color down there, except blue and purple (trust me, I've flown alot, and always seem to get a window seat with nothing better to do...), the only place you see blue is at airports. We I built my newest computer, the case power light and HDD Busy light were blue LEDs, I was fascinated with them for at least a week.

All theories aside, however, having coached two regionals to victory from both sides of the field, there's no difference, at least none that our drive team can tell...

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

From what I saw of the results at the long Island regional, the blue alliance won most of the time. In fact it was too often to be a coincidence. I'm just worried there was some factor that may or may not have altered the outcome of the competition.

http://www2.usfirst.org/2005comp/Events/LI/matches.html

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

all the matches that we won in GLR were on read team.

I watched peachtree regional for like 45 minuts and i never saw blue win.....

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

You know, I said the same thing about the red tets to a team member of mine at the MD regionals on Sat... It looked like the operators had an easier time of distinguishing between the edges of the red tets and the goals than between the edges of the blue tets and the goals.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

I'm not sure how your practice fields are set up, but our field is such that, when using the autoloader, it is only possible to simulate the red side. Therefore, it would make sense that our team would do better on red. However, this is only a single case, but the setup of the practice field would have an effect on how well drivers played on different sides of the fields.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

Our practice field was set up to be like red's as well. Apparently, this helped us greatly, since we ended playing every round except one on the red side. Ironically, when we were playing on the blue side, we got the VCU high score with 98-0...

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

Just for more fuel,

2005 Detroit Regional Qualifying Rounds

Blue Side - 40 Wins - 2278 Points (w/o Penalties) 250 Penalty Points
Red Side - 26 Wins - 1819 Points (w/o Penalties) 260 Penalty Points

Blue Alliance Team Rank Average 16th
Red Alliance Team Rank Average 18th
(I know we've got a kinda causal loop here but i just thought I'd check)


Ben Tower

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

Boilermaker Q Matches

Blue side 36 wins
Red side 31 wins

Two ties

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

New York Times: The Color of Victory Is Red, Scientists Say

Link (free subscription required): http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/18/sc...nd-red.html?hp

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

All Things Considered covered this story too: Study: Red Is the Color of Olympic Victory (No subscription required :))

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

i believe that lighting has just as big of an influence as color
when combined they can determine which side will win

at montclair mayhem (great job 555)
the lights were normal gym lights and gave off alittle bit of amber
as a result the blue side was able to see clearer

The Plot Thickens!
 

The articles continue to roll in. So who's going to start the petition to get FIRST to switch the alliance colours to Fuschia and Seafoam? Wouldn't that be spiffy? :p

Article stolen from the Toronto Star.

May 19, 2005. 06:43 AM


Do winners owe debt to being in the red? Team colours found to impact performance. Scientists think it is linked to testosterone.


PETER CALAMAI
SCIENCE REPORTER

OTTAWA—Science has finally explained why the Leafs can never win the Stanley Cup — the players are sporting the wrong colours.

Wearing red apparently gives male athletes a slight competitive edge in both team and individual sports, two British anthropologists conclude in a study published today in the journal Nature. Blue was one of the colours of the losers in their research.

The scientists found that red could tip the balance between closely matched competitors by analyzing results from four combat sports in last year's Athens Olympics as well as matches at soccer's Euro 2004 championship in Portugal.

This red edge is probably somehow related to testosterone levels, said researcher Robert Barton at the University of Durham.

"In primates, birds and fishes, a greater display of red in the males indicates higher testosterone and that animal often dominates other males. In humans we get red in the face when we're angry and pale when we're afraid," he said.

Barton and colleague Russell Hill decided to test if the same thing happened when male sports competitors wore red outfits. The red might trigger a testosterone surge in the wearer, suppress testosterone in the opponents or do both.

"It was only a hunch. We were pretty bowled over when we started looking at the results," Barton told the Toronto Star in an interview.

The initial evidence came from four sports in the Athens Olympics last summer — boxing, taekwondo, Greco-Roman wrestling and freestyle wrestling. Olympic officials randomly assigned red or blue outfits to the competitors.

Yet 16 of the 21 rounds had more red winners than blue winners. The same colour edge applied across all weight classes, with 19 of 29 having more red winners.

When Barton and Hill looked more closely at the results, they found that the colour advantage tipped the balance largely when competitors were relatively evenly matched.

Canadian wrestling champion Daniel Igali may be a specific instance of the winning red syndrome. He wore a red singlet when he won gold in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

But in Athens last August the blue-clad Igali was eliminated by a Cuban competitor who wore red.

The Durham researchers then tested their theory by studying the success of five teams in the European soccer championships last year — England, Croatia, Latvia, Spain and the Czech Republic.

None had a home-field advantage since the games were in Portugal. All five played some games in predominately red jerseys and other games in white or blue tops. The researchers used a statistical technique that accounted for different levels of skill in the opposing teams.

The result? When these five teams took the field in red jerseys, they scored one more goal per game then when clad in white or blue.

The scientists are puzzled by exactly what drives this better performance. Further investigation showed that red-shirted soccer players weren't making more accurate passes, even though the human vision system evolved to detect red fruit against a green background.

Opposing teams took fewer shots on the goal of red-shirted teams, were "booked" more frequently by referees for infractions and made more tackles.

If further research finds the same red effect in other sports then governing bodies may have to regulate uniform colours to ensure a level playing field, said Barton.

Barton acknowledged another implication from the findings may be even more pressing.

"We're interested to see how the bookmakers react to these findings. It did occur to us that you might be able to make some money by betting on the colour."

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

Channel 1 just had a thing on this and said red does have an advantage. Don't know if I agree but it is out there.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

I think that especially in venues with black backdrops, blue tetras are harder to see.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

taht was the BEST match our team played, honestly it made our team so excited, definately the turning point in that competition, specially wen team 1 fell but was able to get back up it was like.. ahh!!!.. thanks for bringing it up!

thats an interesting artical in the toronto star.. hmm.. that makes sense too.. . haha.. . Detroit Red Wings! ALL THE WAY!! .. i live in ontario but they are my fav team.. now i know why their so good ;)

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

i dont think it would matter what side your on maby the teams are just haveing a good match

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

At the regionals and at finals our team was put on the blue side and we won most of the time.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

I've also been told that lower team numbers are generally placed on the red alliance. I'm not saying rookie teams are bad, I'm saying that those of us who have been doing it longer have more experience, and hopefully more knowledge.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

Based on the results from the first 2 weeks of competition, red does not have a statistically significant advantage over blue. Red won 257 games in week two, while blue won 254. The average team number on red was 961, while the average team number on blue was 984. Neither of those differences are significant.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

this thread was for last years game, it was discussing more of the issues with the red and blue tetras some people it was said that red tetras were easier to cap than the blue.

This year, there isn't anything like that really. The balls are all multicolored really and the camera fines green on both sides.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

Oh? I've been told that teams are randomly picked by a computer, for each alliance.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

1023 was red all day at practice rounds, and we only played 2 blue matches between Friday and Saturday. I do understand the article that was posted a couple posts up, it does seem to make sense.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

For this years game, at the FLR I noticed the lights on the ceiling were different (what you would see facing your teams center goal) from the red side and blue sides of the field.

Dont white lights emit all the colors of the spectrum? I couldnt help wondering if some robots were locking onto the unshaded high intensity lights on the ceiling (at one end of the field)?

If so, then one side would have an advantage this year.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

At the FLR, one side could see the real time score, and the other couldn't..

Not sure who gets the advantage on that one.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

that would have been the blue alliance seeing the real time scoring. interesting, i haven't thought of that yet.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

At GLR, they has a nice Plasma screen TV on the floor by the Scoring Table so that the red alliance could see the scores and stuff.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

That's like saying there's a higher chance to get heads when flipping a coin than tails.

Honestly, how many teams that you saw were able to pick up the vision tetra?

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

Although at Hartford they set up a TV at the red alliance so if needed they could also see.

Re: The Plot Thickens!
 

Did British anthropologists also conclude that bright red coats give you an advantage in war? :D

I agree that there was a slight red advantage for last years game, Triple Play. The red tetras were easier to see. The field was asymmetric (regards to Human/Auto loading) so our autonomous was more consistent from the Red side.

The only things red or blue this year is the bike flags, the ramps and the trim around the goals. This shouldn't provide a significant visibility advantage.

If anything I would say that red has a very odd disadvantage. Red seems to go on offense almost every time there is a autonomous tie. I know it is supposed to be random, but it seems that blue rarely loses this random selection. Maybe I am just not remembering blue because they're blue.

Did anyone else notice this?

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

Actually it does.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

Sorry, I just saw the year 2006, on the day and assumed it was recent. I apologize for bringing back old threads.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

Indeed, blue is the least visable color on the spectrum I believe.

Why they use it for "high end" car headlights, I have no idea.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

Yes, it is true, your eyes suck at blue. Just see this website.

HID headlights are actually white, not blue. There are two reasons for the misconception that they are blue:

a) Incandescent headlights (like all incandescent lights) are very yellow, so white HID lights look blue by comparison. Anyone who has ever taken a picture indoors with a camera lacking auto-white balance has seen this effect first hand.

b) HID headlights, like all headlights, are designed not to shine into the eyes of oncoming drivers though a series of reflectors and light blocking surfaces. Due to chromatic aberration, when the lights are viewed from off center (as you would always view them unless they are shining right on you), these refletors and blocking surfaces make the light appear bluish.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

how about if you superimpose it to past years to see if there is a true advantage.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

My apologies for digging up a really old thread, but I just saw this article... maybe there's more to the red alliance advantage than we previously thought. :p

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

Yeah, if you're talking specifically about finals, then I would point you to this too. Qualifications should be more or less 50/50.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

For anyone interested, here are some stats I generated using the TBA API.

EDIT: Just a disclaimer, this is not my data. It is from TBA, and I made no attempts to sanitize it before processing.

EDIT: The blue min/max have been corrected.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

What happened in 2007?!

Obviously, the exponential nature of the game might throw throw some monkey wrenches into the statistics (My experience with statistics consists largely of hitting the 1-var stats button on my Ti-84) but still, that's a huge difference! Assuming TBA has the correct numbers, is there anything that could account for that? Personally, I thought the 2007 Red Ringers were much more annoying to look at than the blue ones. This is very, very interesting.

Also, I might add it's wicked, wicked, cool to see the average scores for nearly all of my years in FIRST. A+ work! :)

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

I haven't played UT, but I'm guessing that if you're the red team, you'll be shooting at blue opponents. Perhaps it's completely a psychological thing (as the article suggests) and has nothing to do with vision.

My thought exactly! My first thought was that some of the eliminations tended to be blowouts with exponentially high scores for the red alliance. But the stats for the qualifiers seems to eliminate that theory. Weird.

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

I just had a thought. What about the Algorithm of Doom?

IIRC correctly it broke teams into 3 tiers, and selected one from each, selecting similar ones each time because it wanted even spacing, right? It seems like that could be a source of this discrepency, but I don't remember the Algorithm of Doom taking color into account...

Hmmm... I can't do any of this fancy statistics stuff, but perhaps someone else can. At the BAE GSR in 2007, 1276 played on the blue and red alliance an equal number of times (4 and 4) while 1519 played 6 on blue and only 2 on red. 133 played on red 7 times, and blue on 2. 126 was also 6 and 3. I'd be interested to see how this played out across a larger data set, and also to see how much times team spend on either side of the field in every year. Hmmm...

Re: Red Advantage ?
 

At a couple of the regionals I was at in 06 and 07 one side had advantage because there was a window letting in natural lighting that occansionally would confuse the vision cameras during auto-mode.
That being said I would assume that the big delta in the qualifier rounds was due to the 256 point possibility. Looking back I rememer a lot more red-rings than blue rings (all 8). That could be because of finals though. A few extra 256 matches would dramatically throw off the average.