From Your Region to the World Stage
Every RoboCupJunior team starts in its own region. Your Regional Representative is your guide from your first local event all the way to the International Competition. This page explains how the season works, how teams qualify, how to take part in events outside your region, and how to bring RoboCupJunior to a new region.
New to RoboCupJunior? Start with How to Get Started first.
The RoboCupJunior Season
Local Competitions and Workshops
The season kicks off with local competitions and workshops in cities and towns around the world. Students get hands-on experience, learn from mentors and peers, and try out the leagues, often in an entry-level division.
Regional Qualifying Tournaments
Next, teams compete at their regional qualifying tournament, usually your region’s championship. Regions use these events to choose which teams go on to SuperRegional and International competitions.
SuperRegional Competitions
SuperRegional competitions bring together teams from many regions in one part of the world. RoboCupJunior holds three SuperRegional events for Europe, the Americas, and the Asia-Pacific regions.
International Competition
The season ends at the International Competition, held each year alongside RoboCup, where the top teams from each region compete. See RoboCup Events for upcoming dates and locations.
How Qualification Works
Places at SuperRegional and International competitions are given to RoboCup regions, not to individual teams, schools or organisations. Your Regional Representative is with you at every step.
- Find your region. Look up your Regional Representative in the list below. They run or coordinate RoboCupJunior activities where you live.
- Compete at your regional qualifying tournament. Your region uses this event to choose which teams go on.
- Get your slot. After the tournament, your Regional Representative assigns your region’s SuperRegional and International slots to teams.
- Register when invited. Once the RoboCupJunior organizers confirm a slot, the team is invited to register through the official RoboCup Federation registration system.
At the start of each competition year, Regional Representatives complete the Slot Allocation Process, which sets how many International slots each region has. If a region does not use its slots, or gives some back, other Regional Representatives can ask for extra slots later in the process. Regional committees are accredited by the RoboCup Federation and manage qualification for their region; see the RoboCup Regional Committees page for the official procedures.
Moving Up With Your Team
When a team qualifies, at least one of the students who qualified travels on to the next event. You can welcome new members along the way, up to the league’s team size, as long as everyone has a technical role. The General Rules have the details.
Taking Part in Other Competitions
You don’t have to qualify to enter every event. Some regional competitions (Regional Opens) and SuperRegional competitions (SuperRegional Invitationals) have Open or Invitational events that teams from other regions can enter without qualifying.
- Find an event you would like to attend on RoboCup Events.
- Contact your own Regional Representative and tell them which event you’re interested in.
- Apply with their support. Your Regional Representative can support your application to the event organizers.
Competing at an Open or Invitational event is a great way to gain experience and meet teams from around the world. On its own it doesn’t guarantee a place at a SuperRegional or the International Competition: those places are allocated through regions.
No regional committee in your region yet? Your pathway towards the International Competition starts by competing at other regions’ events (Regional Opens) and at SuperRegional events, or by developing a regional committee (see below) for your region.
Bringing RoboCupJunior to a New Region
RoboCupJunior has over 40 active regions worldwide, and new regions are always welcome. If your region isn’t on the Regional Representatives list, you can help start one.
- Check the list first. Your region may already have a Regional Representative, or a nearby region may welcome your teams to its events.
- Get in touch. Email us at junior_execs [@] lists.robocup.org. Tell us where you are, who is involved (schools, clubs, universities, volunteers) and what you hope to run.
- Connect with the community. Join the Discord and Forum to meet organizers who have started regions before.
- Start small. Many regions begin with workshops and a local event using the entry-level divisions, then grow towards a regional qualifying tournament.
- Become an accredited region. Regional committees are recognised by the RoboCup Federation and follow its Regional Committee Procedures and Accreditation Guidelines. Find the guidelines, FAQ and how to apply on the RoboCup Regional Committees page.
Organizers from other regions have shared how they started at the Workshop on Educational Robotics (WEROB):
- First National Robotics Competition in Public High Schools – Costa Rica (WEROB 2012).
- Everyone to Robotics – a national outreach program in Argentina (WEROB 2013).
- The Robot Which Became a Community: Butiá – scaling a low-cost robot across Uruguay (WEROB 2016).
- NERA: Center for Research on Educational Robotics – setting up a regional hub in Brazil (WEROB 2012).
Making the Most of Competitions
Competing is about much more than the scoreboard. Teams who get the most out of RoboCupJunior events tend to:
- Talk to other teams. Ask how their robots work and share your own ideas. The team you help today may help you tomorrow.
- Throw yourself into SuperTeams. Working with teams from other regions is like a real engineering project, and often the highlight of the event.
- Expect things to go wrong. Robots break and code fails on competition day. Staying calm and fixing problems under pressure is part of the learning.
- Be patient with judges and volunteers. They give up their own time, often working in a second language, to run the event for you.
- Write things down while they’re fresh. Ideas from competition week fade quickly. Capture them for next season.
- Stay connected. The friends you make at events often become lifelong collaborators.
- Give back when you age out. Former students make great mentors, volunteers, judges and committee members.
Heading to your first event? Read Your First Competition for what to expect and what to pack, The RoboCupJunior Spirit, and How to get the most out of RoboCup(Junior).
Frequently Asked Questions
Can my team apply directly to the International Competition?
Places at SuperRegional and International events are shared out through regions, so your Regional Representative is the person to talk to. They can tell you how your region selects its teams.
We won an Open event in another region. Are we qualified?
Congratulations! Open and Invitational events are a great experience, but they run separately from qualification. Your Regional Representative can tell you how to qualify in your own region.
Can we change team members after qualifying?
Yes, you can add new members up to the league’s team size, as long as at least one student from the qualifying team continues.
We just missed out on a place. Is there any chance a slot opens up?
Sometimes. When a region doesn’t use all its slots, Regional Representatives can ask for extra ones later in the season. Let yours know you’re interested.