Competition rules and procedures

Organization and format

The competition will have an identified coordinator who is in charge of flow and processes.

If 5 or fewer bots, then format is round robin, with more bots, it's double elimination.

Note: the coordinator should make or acquire a trophy for the winner. Putting this at the top so you don't forget. If you do, make one out of foundry stuff.

Overall competition flow:

• Check-in and safety inspections
• Bracket: Once all teams are finalized, make the Challonge bracket
• Driver's meeting: The coordinator holds a driver's meeting that covers all rules below.
• Matches
• Crown the winner

Check-in and safety inspection

All teams with bots competing must check in with the coordinator, who will record:

• Team number
• Robot name

Teams should then get safety inspected. This includes:

• Weight: < 1lb or 454g for ant-weight
• Battery safe: Battery not accessible
• Power switch: Identifiable on/off switch with indicator light of some sort
• Weapon lock: Weapon has some kind of safety lock (a clamp or something) so it can't spin up accidentally outside the arena -- THIS MUST BE USED AT ALL TIMES WHEN NOT IN THE ARENA!
• Fail safe: Follow robot load-in procedure (below), have them spin up weapon(s), then turn radio off while they're running. Weapons must spin down as a result.

Robot load-in

To safely load a robot into the arena:

1. Start with radio OFF and bot OFF
2. Place bot in
3. Turn bot ON
4. Remove weapon lock
5. Close and latch door
6. Radio ON

This way the bot is never armed and dangerous without being in a sealed box.

Match rules

We use the SPARC rules. Summary:

• Match duration: 3 minutes
• Knockouts: If a robot becomes inoperable or unable to translate in a controlled way, the ref will start a 10 second count out. If the condition persists for the count, that robot is knocked out and loses.
• Unsticks: If robots become stuck to arena or each other, each team can call one "unstick" in which the bots are stopped, box opened, and robot(s) manually separated. If no unstick is left to be called, the ref can stop the match and take it to the judges.
• Pins: Robots may pin their opponent to immobility for a max of 5 seconds. The ref will call for the pinner to separate with a 5 second countdown.
• Judging: If the match goes the full time, it goes to the judge(s) -- see below.

Judging

An number of judges (ideally odd to prevent ties) will call non-knockouts. Each judge will assess each bot for:

• Damage
• Control
• Aggression

Whichever bot was in the lead for 2+ of these dimensions is that judge's winner. The overall match winner is based on a consensus of the judges.

Brackets

Brackets are managed in Challonge. Login, and make a tournament:

• Name: "Duke Combat Robotics - <Month> <Year>"
• Link: "dukecr<YEAR><SEMESTER>", e.g. "dukecr2024sp"
• Game: Robot Combat
• Format: Round robin (if competitors <= 5) or double elimination (if competitors >= 6)
• Registration: Provide a list of participants
• Start time: Actual start time

Then add participants by team number and bot name.

As matches progress, mark the winner in Challonge (you can skip the score aspect).

Winner

Whoever Challonge says wins wins. Give them the trophy. Maybe get dinner together. Good job!