2. Finals Experience

Since this is based on experience, some information may become outdated. This article is written only from our own experience. The actual competition situation depends on the organizer.

Competition Format and Content

Although the full competition schedule may last several days, one team usually only occupies at most one day, so you mainly need to keep the competition day and award day free. The finals we joined were very different from the preliminaries. Preliminary tasks are simple but require speed. Finals test patience and precision much more. The finals can last five hours and go through lunchtime. I actually skip lunch because going out to eat wastes time. You can ask staff about restroom needs and so on. Since it is five hours, you can imagine the project difficulty.

For a five-hour project, precision matters most. Of course, time can still become a problem. Spending a few minutes discussing the overall strategy with your teammate can reduce the painful situation where you realize you missed something earlier and now have to tear down a huge part and redo it. The key during the process is patience. Mindset matters. The more you make mistakes, the more you need to stabilize and correct them. For projects that can be written in five hours, getting full marks is not easy. It is hard for you, and it is hard for your opponents too. So being steady comes first. Haste makes waste.

Competition Venue

The two finals we attended were both held at Nangang Exhibition Center. We also heard that earlier competitions were not held at such a large scale. Anyway, unless something unexpected happens, like TM Robot suddenly reducing sponsorship, it should probably still be held at Nangang Exhibition Center. The reason for choosing that venue is that TM Robot wants it to be not only a competition, but also a kind of promotion. Because of that, during non-competition periods, visitors may come talk to you. If you have time, you can also walk around the huge exhibition hall. There are many different brands and types of robots there, which is definitely a good chance to broaden your horizons.

Camp

Because the two years we joined were already quite different, this is probably the part most likely to keep changing.

The first time we went, teams were only split into Groups A and B, completely randomly. Many opponents were five-year junior college students who had competed several times before. The camp lasted five days and four nights, and we stayed in the dormitory of Taichung Industrial High School. The second time, Groups A and B became first-time competitor groups, still assigned by lottery, and Group C became the veteran group. For the camp, Groups A and B became one-day round trips, and Group C was shortened to only two days and one night.

As for food, it is normal boxed meals, and disposable utensils are provided. So do not trust the pre-competition notice saying you must bring your own utensils.

At the end of camp, Groups A and B usually have a small second-round selection. The difficulty is roughly between preliminaries and finals. In our first year, it was 15 teams competing for 12 spots. Not many teams were eliminated, but everyone had already gone through preliminary selection and camp training, so do not underestimate it.