Similarly to the other RoboCup leagues, the Four-Legged League introduces a qualification process, starting with the teams that will participate in RoboCup-2006. There are several reasons for the need of this qualification, in particular the continued interest in the league combined with the fact that we cannot increase the number of teams every year. As opposed to other leagues, the qualification procedure qualifies teams based on their performance at RoboCup in the previous year. The process is designed to allow for teams to show their technical contributions in terms of performance in the competition, challenges, and research publications.
Procedure
The total teams qualified, TAll is the union of three categories of teams:
TComp. Teams classified from the competition (winners from the championship tournament). They must have provided a detailed team report.
TChallenge. Teams classified from the RoboCup Challenges (winners from the challenges). They must have provided a detailed team report.
TRec. Teams recommended by Committee (including new teams based on the applications)
So #TAll = #(TComp + TChallenge + TRec).
Number of Teams
For example, if #TAll = 24 teams (#(TComp + TChallenge + TRec) = 24), then the proposed distribution is:
#TComp = 8 (Quarter finalists)
#TChallenge = 4 (select from the order of Challenge result excluding TComp)
#TRec = #TAll - (TComp + TChallenge)
The committee will take into account the years in the league, research publications, and scientific and engineering achievements (So, freshman teams should be fine).
Declination of Participation
In case a qualified team declines to participate in the next year RoboCup or did not provide a detailed team report, TChallenge classification will be increased.
