The Big Question

[archiver]

Posted by P.J. Baker.

Engineer on team #177, Bobcat Robotics, from South Windsor High School and International Fuel Cells.

Posted on 7/16/99 1:41 PM MST


In Reply to: Re: The Big Question posted by Tony on 7/16/99 12:51 PM MST:



This was my first year doing this, so I can't compare to the way things
were, but I really liked the alliances. It gave the matches a lot more
intrigue, and it was great to work with another team to prepare for
matches in the elimination rounds.


As far as the 'luck factor' in the elimination rounds, I really must
disagree with the idea that making it into the top 8 or 16 was based
entirely on luck. So far this year, we have taken the Bobcat to 4
different competitions. We have seeded in all of them. There are
several other teams out there that can make this claim as well. I do
think that 'bad luck' could keep a team out of the top 8/16, but that
what the draft is for. Eventhough there was an overwhelming number of
teams to choose from at EPCOT, I felt that the draft did a good job of
ensuring that most of the best 'bots made it into the elimination rounds.
This was even more true at the regionals, where a much higher percentage
of the teams made it to the eliminations.

To back up my thoughts on the the importance of luck in the seeding rounds
I'm reposting some stats that I put up when this topic first came up, just
after EPCOT.

Stats for the top 16 seeds at EPCOT:

15 of the 16 appeared in the elimination round of at least 1 regional

10 of the 16 were among the top 8 seeds in at least 1 regional

7 of the 16 appeared in the elimination round of at least two regionals

4 of the 16 were among the top 8 seeds in 2 regionals

2 of the 16 appeared in the elimination round of three regionals