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A competition I chair that puts real response-robotics research problems in the hands of high-school students. Cheap parts, open designs, a robot small enough to hold, and the same test methods the professionals use, shrunk to 30 centimetres.
The RMRC promotes the development of low-cost, rapidly manufacturable small robots, around 30 cm (12 inches) wide, and the components that go in them, so that responders can perform hazardous mission tasks more safely and more effectively. It is the on-ramp version of professional response robotics: same problems, buildable scale.
The competition uses many of the Standard Test Methods for Response Robots developed by NIST and international collaborators, implemented at 30 cm (12 inch) scale. A student solving these is solving a real, current research problem, not a toy version of one.
Rapid manufacturing and 3D printing keep the barrier low: designs are open, parts are cheap, and teams publish what they build so the next team can go further.
~30 cm (12 in) wide. Small enough to hold, real enough to matter.
High-school students and their mentors, from teams across multiple countries.
Alumni robots include Quince, which was crucial in the response to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster.
Driving a small robot reliably over rough, unpredictable ground.
Perceiving the environment well enough to act on it.
Collecting and delivering objects under real constraints.
Interfaces an operator can actually use under pressure.
Behaviour that works without a human driving every moment.
High-school students, roughly 13 to 19 years old (14 to 19 on July 1 of the competition year). Teams are made up of two to six students.
Each team can be accompanied by up to two mentors, without age restriction, who guide rather than build.
The next world championship runs at Songdo Convensia in Incheon. Teams qualify through the year by submitting participation forms and Team Description Materials, then compete on the arenas in person.
Team Description Materials are judged on how useful they are to other teams, and act as a multiplier on a team's score. Sharing is built into the rules.
30 June 2026
RoboCup 2026, Songdo Convensia, Incheon.
A competition that has run, and grown, for more than a decade. Team Description Materials from past years are a great starting point for new teams, showing how others built their robots.
Past Team Description Materials and older results are linked from the RMRC home.
The official RMRC home, the RoboCup Rescue league page, and the international rulebook.
Put real research problems in front of the next generation, with a course they can measure themselves against. That is how a field stays healthy.