1949: Think Award criteria clarification : Robot Events

1949: Think Award criteria clarification

Eric Schnurr

11-Feb-2024

I have questions about the first two criteria for the Think Award.

The first criteria for the Think Award is: “Participation in the Autonomous Coding Skills Challenge”

Is this a hard requirement?
IE if a team does not even attempt an Autonomous Coding Skills run, can they be eligible for this award?

The second criteria for the Think Award is: “Autonomous programming is consistent and reliable” 2) With Prog Skills being renamed to "Autonomous Coding Skills" this season, does “Autonomous programming” refer to the Autonomous Period in a match? Or to Autonomous Coding Skills? Or both? If it is the Autonomous Period of a match, are there any guidelines for using the “AP” to help distinguish comparing teams for this criteria? IE top 30% Or are Judges supposed to be watching teams Auton during multiple matches to evaluate how consistent it is?

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Answered by Competition Judging Committee

13-Feb-2024

Participation in the Autonomous Coding Skills Challenge with a score greater than zero is a hard requirement. For VIQRC, this is the only opportunity for teams to show their Autonomous Coding.

Autonomous Programming refers to both the autonomous period of VRC / VEXU events as well as the Autonomous Coding Skills Challenge. Since VIQRC does not have an autonomous period in Qualification matches, and teams in all programs only get 3 chances to run Autonomous Coding Skills, the threshold for "consistent and reliable" should not be set so high as to be insurmountable.

There is no guidance with regards to using APs or scores to rank potential award candidates, as this will vary a lot from event to event.

It is the intention of this verbiage in the Guide to Judging that the Think Award reward consistent and elegant programming solutions, and not a high scoring or effective run whose success was a fluke / primarily due to good luck.