Use of robot partners in club games
We are currently trialing using a pair of robots to replace sitouts, based on a straw poll of club members. We will see what feedback we get over the next few weeks. At the moment the robots are doing too well - 2nd place each time!! Part of this is over their Standard American system that few of our players understand, and also that they remember all of the cards played, which isn't a universal attribute of our members ...
We are currently having a discussion over allowing robot partners, which at the moment we don't.
I see that the EBU will be running 2 simultaneous competitions, one allowing robot partners, and one not. I would be very grateful to have some feedback on this in a few weeks to understand the approximate numbers entering the two competitions, as I think this will be a guide on how our club members will feel (but are reluctant to answer our surveys!).
Thanks
Comments
Before we were able to use robot subs, we used to use the subs desk - and sub from someone on that list. Those subs were often quite unreliable and would drop out either with or without explanation, so using robot subs seemed a big improvement, though some players don't like them. Reasons given are, they are too good, or too fast! I questioned the "too fast" answer, and was told that players found their fast play disconcerting and hard to keep up with (I still don't understand this). If you have the luxury of a pair of real players who are willing to act as subs, that may be best.