The RFORCE Index
The RFORCE Index
The RFORCE Index is an comprehensive performance metric created by RFORCE LLC, which:
Collects raw data from Robot Events API’s (robotevents.com)
Extracts insights and synthesizes it using the RFORCE Index Formula
Presents it in the context of RFORCE data (Leaderboards, Profiles, etc.)
This process produces a team’s RFORCE, measured in RF points (RF pts).
The RFORCE Index’s objectives are:
To measure a team’s complete performance quality by capturing all possible and available contributions within their respective competition (awards, rankings, skills, etc.)
Be a standardized metric that is comparable throughout multiple seasons, regardless of a season’s particular challenge and different score ranges.
Recognize and produce an RFORCE to each individual member of a team (athletes and coaches) and differentiate between each of their respective contributions to the team’s RFORCE.
Create leaderboards that rank teams, athletes, coaches, organizations and countries by their RFORCE to spotlight the best competitors.
The following sections demonstrate how teams, athletes, coaches, organizations and countries in the VEX Robotics Competition receive points and build their RFORCE:
SCORING (Teams)
ATTRIBUTION
LEADERBOARDS
1. SCORING (Teams)
Teams earn RF points by scoring in events during a competition season. These are called Event Points (EPs).
EPs are then affected by the RFORCE Event Rating (RFER), a coefficient which takes into account the difficulty, size, level and frequency of events for that team during the season. This generates the team’s Event Score (ES) for that particular event.
Finally, all of a team’s Event Scores are averaged as the season progresses, producing a team’s standing RFORCE, measured in RF pts.
Event Points (VRC)
Event Points for the VEX Robotics Competition take into account both Judge Awards and Rankings (Qualification, Finals, and Robot Skills).
A team’s EPs for judge-award-based VRC scoring systems are determined using empirical values assigned to each Judge Award by the REC Foundation’s award descriptions.
Judge Awards (in EPs):
12 pts = Excellence Award
10 pts = Teamwork Finals Champion*
10 pts = Robot Skills Champion*
9 pts = Design Award
7 pts = Amaze, Innovate, and Think Awards
5 pts = Create and Build Awards
3 pts = Judges Award
1 pt = Inspire, Sportsmanship, and Energy Awards
*Not a Judge Award. Does not give Event Points through the Judge Award category, but rather from the Rankings category, see below.*
Rankings (Qualifications, Finals, and Robot Skills):
A team’s EPs for rank-based VRC scoring systems are determined using the RFORCE Rank-Based Proportional Point Distribution System (RANK for short),
The RANK distributes a proportion of 10 EPs for each rank in one particular category. Proportion sizes are affected by the ranking’s size (number of teams in that ranking).
Rule of thumb: #1 rank team always receives the full 10 points. Each rank thereafter receives a portion of 10 pts, the percentage of which is determined by rank and how many teams there are in that particular ranking.
RANK Formula:
[1+(T-R)]T10 =RANK EPs
T: Total # of teams ranked in that category
R: Team’s rank in that category
*Rounded to the nearest tenth.*
EXAMPLE (EPs earned by top 3 teams in each category at a 50 team event):
Qualifications (all 50 teams participate):
#1 rank: [1+(50-1)]5010 = 10 pts
#2 rank: [1+(50-2)]5010 = 9.8 pts
#3 rank: [1+(50-3)]5010 = 9.6 pts
Finals (top 20 teams participate, 10 alliances):
#1 rank: [1+(10-1)]1010 = 10 pts *
#2 rank: [1+(10-2)]1010 = 9.5 pts
#3 rank: [1+(10-3)]1010 = 9 pts
*Winning the Teamwork Finals Champion Award is the same as being ranked 1st, and only scores the 10 pts distributed from the RANK.*
Robot Skills (hypothetical; only 38 teams participate):
#1 rank: [1+(38-1)]3810 = 10 pts *
#2 rank: [1+(38-2)]3810 = 9.74 pts
#3 rank: [1+(38-3)]3810 = 9.47 pts
*Winning the Robot Skills Award is the same as being ranked 1st, and only scores the 10 pts distributed from the RANK.*
The RANK system allows for incremental and proportional rank valuation; eliminates tie-breakers and rewards Teams marginally for each rank climbed, as well as appropriately for each category
RFORCE Event Rating (RFER)
The RFER is a coefficient that aims to accurately reflect the “caliber” of an event by integrating 4 factors into its calculation: difficulty, size, level, and how many events a team has done. A team’s performance in a higher caliber event will affect their Event Points appropriately.
In essence, the RFER can be understood with these 4 main principles:
Performing at harder events (against better teams) is rewarded
Performing at larger events (in #of teams) is rewarded
Performing at higher-stakes events (qualification-required events) is rewarded
Performing at more events (throughout the season) is rewarded
The RFORCE Event Rating (RFER) is made up of:
Event Caliber (EC)
Event Difficulty / Event Size
Event Difficulty (Sum of teams’ RFORCEs at that event)
Event Size (# of teams at that event)
Event Level (EL)
Locals = 1x
Regionals = 1.25x
Nationals = 1.5x
Worlds = 2x
Event Number Bonus (ENB)
Additional points for each event attended by a team (increases by 1 for each event attended)
RFER Formula:
1+log10(EC+1)(EL)(ENB)=RFER
EC: Event Caliber
EL: Event Level
ENB: Event Number Bonus
ENB Formula:
1+(EN2-1)LEN2=ENB
EN: Team’s current number of events in that season
LEN: Number of events of team with the most number of events attended (for calibration purposes)
Event Score & RFORCE
At each event, a team will earn EPs, and these EPs will be multiplied by the RFER, leading to a team’s Event Score (ES), for that event.
ES Formula:
EPRFER = ES
Finally = all of a team’s Event Scores throughout a season are averaged to prudence that team’s standing RFORCE:
ESEN = RFORCE
ES: Sum of all Event Score’s of that team’s events in that season
EN: Team’s current number of events in that season
The Team Leaderboards are generated using teams’ RFORCEs.
2. ATTRIBUTION
Attribution explains how the RFORCEs for individuals (those that don’t have Robot Events data directly), are determined and categorized in the rankings. For Athletes and Coaches, we combine the team data with our own data (profile information) to attribute points based on their role.
Athletes are split into three roles: Drivers, Programmers, and Builders. Their RFORCEs are determined based on the categories of EPs that can be most reasonably attributed to their role (what they are most responsible for accomplishing, based on the REC Foundation Award descriptions). The Athlete Leaderboards are separated by role. While an athlete can serve the duties of multiple roles in their team, we ask that athletes choose their “primary role;” the role they spend the most time doing, have the biggest impact in, resonates best with them, etc.
Coaches are attributed all of their team’s points in that season and are ranked in their own Leaderboard.
Attribution by Role (in EPs)
Based on an Athletes primary role, here is how EPs from an event are attributed. All attributed EPs are affected by that event’s RFER as well.
Drivers: Qualification Rank, Finals Rank, Driver Skills Rank
Programmers: Autonomous Points, Win Points, Programming Skills Rank, Innovate Award, Think Award
Builders: Qualification Rank, Finals Rank, Skills Rank, Design Award, Create Award, Build Award
All Roles: Excellence Award, Amaze Award
Coaches: attributed all of their team’s EPs points in that season
Countries & Organizations
For Countries and Organizations, the attribution is also made by combining Team data with RFORCE data. A country or organization’s RFORCE is determined in two steps:
Connecting all team profiles with their selected country or organization, by platform.
Attributing points for those teams to countries and organizations based on that team’s rank in its respective leaderboard (using the RANK system on RFORCE team leaderboards)
A country or organization’s RFORCE comes from the culmination of all ranks of all their respective teams…
Country / Organization RFORCE Formula:
TR1+TR2 +TR3+TRn =RFORCE
TR = Team Rank
n = Number of teams
EXAMPLE
Organization A has 3 teams ranked 11, 53 and 2340 in the VEX IQ Leaderboards (ranking a total of 5000 teams). The RANK system applies and rewards each team in that organization with their proportional amount of points, based on their rank in their leaderboard.
For a leaderboard of the top 100 VEX IQ teams, Organization A will earn:
#11 rank: [1+(5000-11)]50001000 = 998 pts
#53 rank: [1+(5000-53)]50001000 = 989.6 pts
#2340 rank: [1+(5000-2340)]50001000 = 532.2 pts
998+989.6 +532.2 =2519.8 pts
Organization A’s RFORCE is 2519.8.
The same system applies for countries, separated by competition platform.
3. LEADERBOARDS
The RFORCE Leaderboards display the rank of teams, athletes, coaches, organizations and countries within the VEX Robotics Competition based on their RFORCE.
Leaderboards are categorized by competition platform and profile type. For athletes specifically, they are separated into primary role leaderboards: drivers, programmers, and builders.
The top 5,000 teams, the top 5,000 athletes, the top 5,000 coaches, all organizations and all countries are ranked in the Leaderboards.
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