Sumo-bot Competition Season!

The sumobot ring shall be a raised disk with an agreed upon diameter among the competing teams.  The minimum diameter is recommended to be at 30 inches.  The coordinator recommends at least 42 inches to accommodate larger robot builds.  

The height of the disk from the floor to the top surface shall be over 2 inches tall.

The surface shall be black such that a Spike color sensor reads it as black under 3 levels of ambient lighting - i.e., dark, medium, and bright).

The ring shall have a white border at its outer edge.  The border shall have a 2-inch width such that its inner radius.  The border shall be white such that a Spike color sensor reads as white under 3 levels of ambient lighting - i.e., dark, medium, and bright.  

The sumobots shall start at a distance of 24 inches from one another.  The midpoint of this distance shall intersect with the center point of the ring.  

Competitors and spectators are advised to stand away from sumobots to avoid false detections from outside the ring perimeter.  Detection ranges will vary based on robot code.  

The sumobot program shall be started by a press of one button on the robot controller.

Bluetooth or wired connections to the sumobot are not permitted during the match.  

A game consists of 3 matches.  

Each match shall last 1 minute.

You cannot touch your robot during the match.  Doing so scores a win for your opponent.  

A sumobot match win scores 3 points.

A sumobot match tie scores 1 point.

A sumobot match loss scores 0 points.

A win must meet at least one of the following conditions:

• The opposing sumobot is pushed off the ring surface.  

• At least one wheel of the opposing sumobot falls below the ring surface.

• A sumobot flips the other sumobot such that all of the wheels of the opposing sumobot are no longer contacting the ring surface and such that the flipped sumorobot cannot recover before the timer runs out.  

• The opposing team touches their sumobot during match play.

For the sumobot regular season, each sumobot will play each other at least once.  For example, if there are 8 sumobots, each sumobot will play at least 4 games.  

Win or lose, the top 3 scores per game is recorded for each team for tie breaking purposes.  

Teams will face off in an elimination bracket for the playoffs.    

Playoff match-ups will be assigned depending on regular season rankings.  For example, in the opening playoff round, the 1st seed may play against the 8th seed, the 2nd seed may  play against the 7th seed, etc.  

For the regular season and for the playoffs, tiebreakers shall be handled in the following order: 

• The team with the higher cumulative points scored among all games played thus far shall break the tie.  

• A head-to-head game of 3 matches is played.  If no winner emerges after 3 matches, the tiebreaker proceeds to the best out of 5 matches.  If there is still no clear winner, then 2 additional matches played.  Repeat as necessary.