This one is a slightly tricky one but a good one to address sooner rather than later. If robot numbers continue an upward trend for AWS attendance, we will eventually run out of time in a day. AntLog was set to 128 robots max a few year's back as a "this'll never happen" safety limit...it is now being increased again. 98 robots competed at AWS55 and we finished in good time. But we had a fair number of drop-outs, plus I know of a fair few competitors who couldn't make it. With teams planning new robots all the time, it is safe to assume we could easily top out 128 soon. So we need to talk about controlling numbers relative to time in the day.
I've collected together several ways of doing it.
1) The EO sets a max robot limit at the start of sign ups and refuses anyone after that.
2) If numbers increase to unmanageable levels, all teams with 4 entries will be asked to drop to 3 to allow for other teams to enter.
3) The entry limit is dropped to 3 per team in general.
4) Two arenas run battles simultaneously if the numbers get too high to cut times down.
5) The 'off-the-shelf' rule is expanded to include kitbots and ready-built/un-unique ants.
Obviously, each one of these is fraught with issues and can be objected to. Personally, I really hate 1) and 5) for example. But it's something that we all need to consider. Maybe it'll never happen, but it's looking likely that it might.
So, rather than open up debate on why these options suck (they all suck in multiple ways, we know), I'd like to hear how people would be willing to best compromise. Would you be happy to do any of these if it meant someone else could join in? Does anyone have any further suggestions for how it could be done? What's the best way to be the most inclusive whilst acknowledging the limitations the event naturally produces?
PLEASE DON'T USE THE THREAD TO ARGUE WHY AN OPTION IS RUBBISH, THEY ALL ARE, WE KNOW. JUST POSITIVE COMPROMISE PLEASE!
![Razz :P](./images/smilies/icon_razz.gif)
Floor is open.