FAQ

What is RoboCupJunior.?

How do I get involved in RoboCupJunior?

What can I make the robots out of?

Where and when are the competitions?

What are the age restrictions?

Where do I get help with my robot?

Where can I get specialized robot components?

Where can I ask a question that is not on this list?

What is RoboCupJunior?

RoboCupJunior is a robotics competition for elementary and high school students that provides a consistent challenge from year to year, with very open ended rules.

It has three challenges:

• Soccer
• Rescue
• Dance

The soccer challenge has two divisions. The first has teams of only one robot, and is designed for rookie teams that have had no experience with RoboCupJunior. The second division has teams of two robots on a larger playing field. The object of the game, as in real soccer, is to put the ball in the other teams goal and keep it out of yours.

In the rescue challenge, teams build a robot to follow a line through an obstacle course and find stranded victims scattered throughout. The robot with the most accuracy in finding the people wins.

The dance competition is the most open of all the challenges. It lets teams express their creativity by creating a robot that dances to music. Robots are judged on programming, construction, costume, choreography, creativity, originality, and entertainment value.

How do I get involved in RoboCupJunior?

1. Read the competition rules.
2. Build robot(s) for your selected challenges.
3. Register for a competition.

What can I make the robots out of?

Anything. As long as your robot follows all the rules, the material used in construction doesn't matter.

However, most teams use Legos for the robot body, and custom built (or purchased) sensors. In addition, almost all teams use the Lego RCX, a programmable micro controller. The RCXs are part of Lego's Mindstorms and RoboLab series of kits.

Where and when are the competitions?

The North American Eastern Regional competition will be held at MIT in Cambridge, MA on May 6th and 7th, 2008.

What are the age restrictions?

The competition is geared to grades 6-12, but there is no lower limit on ages. The students must not be out of high school.

Where do I get help with my robot?

Post your question on our forum.

Where can I get specialized robot components?

www.acroname.com has a good selection of robot components. They also sell a RoboCupJunior infrared soccer ball.

www.wiltronics.com.au has several RoboCupJunior sensors for the soccer competition, and they also sell a RoboBall.

If you can't find what you are looking for, ask if anyone knows where to find what you need on our forum.

Where can I ask a question that is not on this list?

You can ask your question on our forum located here.

Please post your question in the appropriate section. If you are unsure as to which section to post in, post in the General Discussion forum.