Unusual question in applying Round Robin - help

[wagon-ed]

Hi to all, I would like to use the Round Robin approach in setting up small groups out of a large group, for example starting with 150 people, to group them in small groups of 8 to 10 each. Then using a scheduler- to change who is in the group and changing it each gathering so its a new small group each time, and each gets to be with all the others over a period of time. Is such a use of Round Robin even possible? It seem to always be between 2 only. And if possible, can anyone share a link to access such an online scheduler? Thanks.
  - Ed

[Ian Wakeling]

This is a really tough problem and I doubt there is any scheduler that will handle this many people.  There will be very few scenarios like this where it even possible to have a schedule where everyone gets to be with all the others exactly once and you need to look to combinatorics for solutions, if the group size is 3, then it is a celebrated mathematical problem.   The closest I can see to your example is 120 people in groups of 8 and 17 rounds.

[wagon-ed]

Thanks for your reply Ian, I may be able to use the info in the one solution you sent the link for, the "celebrated mathematical problem". Your last comment, "The closest I can see to your example is 120 people in groups of 8 and 17 rounds. " Where can I find this example you refer to? It may fit the need quite well. Thanks again,    -Ed

[Ian Wakeling]

Ed,

For 120 people, I looked in this book,  it tells me that the schedule exists and gives a reference to a paper in an academic journal.  Unfortunately I don't have access to the paper.   For smaller numbers of people say n<50 then I can probably find examples of most of these types of schedules.

Ian.

[wagon-ed]

I'd be glad for any examples even of 50 that you have access to, or their link. Thanks  - Ed