The arena · standing rules
Eight rules that hold every edition
The answer
Four things stop a robot competition from being marketing, and all four are structural rather than editorial: the rubric is published before entries open, the scorers hold no position and disclose it, every score carries written reasoning a competitor can dispute, and a published result is superseded by a new publication rather than edited. A competition missing any one of them is a showcase.
§ 01
The rules
| # | Rule | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | The rubric is published before entries open | A rubric written after the results is not a rubric. Ours is at /rubric/ and predates every edition. |
| 02 | All six conditions are scored | Including authority, settlement and accountability, which no other competition scores. An arena measuring only capability is a sports event. |
| 03 | Every score carries written reasoning | So a competitor can dispute one number rather than the whole result. |
| 04 | Scorers hold no position in entrants | Disclosed on every edition. A scorer with an interest is a judge with a stake. |
| 05 | Results are superseded, never edited | A published result stands with its date. A correction is a new publication that says what changed. |
| 06 | Entrants keep their own engineering | The arena records scores and reasoning, never the entrant's designs, data or models. |
| 07 | Safety is a gate, not a score | Machines meet the industrial standard or they do not compete. There is no trade-off available against it. |
| 08 | A zero is published | Most entrants will score zero on authority and settlement at first. Publishing that is the entire reason the arena is worth running. |
Safety requirements for entrant machines follow ISO 10218. The scoring conditions are defined by Botz Group and are not restated here.