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Posted by Jim Meyer.

Engineer on team #67, HOT Team, from Huron Valley Schools and GM Milford Proving Ground.

Posted on 9/28/2000 9:24 AM MST


In Reply to: Scoring for No-Shows posted by Jason Rukes on 9/28/2000 7:04 AM MST:



: 1. If a team does not field a robot during a match, should they still receive qualification points for that match?

Yes! Taking points away from teams who do not field a robot will only force them to put nonfunctional robots on the field. I can think of no way to distinguish between a robot that broke when the match started and one that broke before the match started. The effect would be the same, you would just end up taking 'fix' time away from the team with the broken robot. Plus, last year, teams without robots could still score.

: 2. If a team does not field a robot during a match, should FIRST allow for an alternate robot to take its place?

I'm assuming that the purpose of this would be to help the team that gets partnered with the missing robot. Being partnered with a missing robot or one that breaks early in the match or just isn't very effective all seem the same to me. Maybe FIRST could change the scoring scheme to better reflect an individual robot's performance, at least for qualification purposes?

Interesting concept, I personally can't come up with a plan that would make it fair for everyone though. If I'm having problems with my robot I could ask a really good team to be my alternate. The opposing teams would be upset because their competitioin just got tougher bacause one of their opponents is broke. On top of these complications how would the points be handled?

I did like what I heard about the placebo bots of years past. Ineffective robots that were out there for entertainment only. I would like to se them return!

Sorry about being so long winded,

Jim