Preselection

The IPT 2023 has already started! The list of problems has already been released, and now we share more information in the next edition. Registration is now open, country representatives should contact the Executive Committee informing their interest to participate in the tournament.

Whether your team is looking to fight for a spot in the tournament or if you are simply curious about the tournament, this page is where you need to be to find out how to go through the pre-selection process.

Rules of the preselection:

• If more teams apply than the number of available seats, the participants must compete in a preselection process in order to determine who can join the international tournament. Each team must submit a scientific-style report on a finished or even unfinished solution to one of the following three problems:
  • 1. Match Counting
    
  • 5. Pringles Stack Ring
    
  • 11. The Chalk Trick
    
  As a reminder, the description of the problems is available on the website.

  The report must have a .pdf format and cannot exceed 5 pages (except the title page). You are free to enclose your own experimental material (videos, photos, computer programs – smaller than 10 MB in total) and to cite it properly in the report. Your reports will be judged on if they give a plausible solution, how well supported they are (experiment and/or theory), how innovative the solution is and how well all the possible solutions have been considered. The teams have to send their report only to president@iptnet.info (for anonymity reasons) by the 22nd of January 2023.

  The reports will then be graded and returned to you by the 30th of January with feedback, along with the result of qualification. Note that in the case that more teams than available seats apply, the countries that ranked from 1st to 7th in the previous edition are automatically qualified (France, Brazil, Switzerland, Poland, Germany, Ukraine, Sweden). Be aware that each report will be anonymized before being distributed amongst the jury members. To ease the anonymization process, if unnecessary please avoid any explicit mention of your team’s university or origin, except on the title page.

  In addition, in countries with national selections (at least 3 teams participating in physical fights format judged by a jury, at least 2 fights), teams may choose from an additional two problems:

  • 4. Stuck Metallic Spheres
    
  • 12. Dancing Lights
    

  Often the winner of the national tournament wins their country’s seat in the tournament, should they also pass the international pre-selection stage.

• Each jury member can grade all the reports except the ones from their own country’s teams if any. Each report will be graded by the same number of jury members. The teams will be ranked according to their report and receive some feedback about their work. The ranking will serve as the basis for seeds in the tournament.

Please remember that this pre-selection process is free. The registration fees will have to be paid only by the teams qualified for the international competition and will be due to the LOC.

Example of preselection report: