**FIRST EMAIL**/Updated Alliance Pairing Algorithm

[Mark McLeod]

Greetings Teams:

FIRST staff and Game Design Committee have been working to improve the method used to generate alliances for the 2008 FRC season. We are trying to make sure that the new method will produce alliances that we all will regard as appropriate. We have developed a list of criteria to define the factors that influence the algorithm results. These criteria are:

a. Maximum time (in number of matches) between each match played for all teams
b. Minimum possible number of times a team plays opposite any team
c. Minimum possible number of times a team is allied with any team
d. Minimize the use of surrogates.
e. Even distribution of matches played on Blue and Red Alliance (without sacrificing a, b, c and d)

Below is a link to a discussion thread on the FIRST Forum. There you will find a stand-alone algorithm that can be used to generate alliances. This particular algorithm currently meets the above criteria. We invite you to try out the program and post your feedback in this thread. Where are the holes? What issues can you find? We want to know!

http://forums.usfirst.org/forumdisplay.php?f=442

Additionally, please post comments about generating alliance pairings in general. It is FIRST's intent to produce the best solution for all teams.

Thanks to all, and good luck in 2008!

Go Teams!