Opportunity brief
Date: 21st November
Registration fees: 200 per participant
Overview
- PERPLEXED is built around two partner companies whose businesses depend on each other, and both are struggling. Half the teams act as consulting firms hired by Company A, and the other half are hired by Company B.
- The problems are real within the game, but are not given to teams directly. Teams discover them by interviewing AI chatbots playing company stakeholders, such as the CEO, CFO, operations head, HR manager or disgruntled employee. Each stakeholder knows only part of the story and may have their own agenda, hide or downplay facts, or misremember events.
- Teams must ask effective questions, connect clues, distinguish facts from spin, and present a clear diagnosis with practical recommendations to judges acting as the client's board.
- Not everything worth knowing is said out loud: the company portal also holds traces of everyday office life that may quietly support or contradict what stakeholders claim.
- Neither company's problems can be solved from inside one company: part of every root cause sits with the partner, and employees on each side may be quick to blame the other. Midway through the investigation, each team must find and convince a team working on the other company to form an alliance, combine what both sides know, and present a joint diagnosis.
Eligibility:
Open to students. Teams of 2-4.
Performance Guidelines:
- Robots or simulated bots must follow arena rules and size limits.
- Online teams use the provided simulator; on-site teams must pass inspection.
- Robots may be modified between rounds.
Judging Criteria
- Match results (50%)
- Strategy (20%)
- Robot performance (20%)
- Adaptation between rounds (10%).