A beginner’s guide for students, educators, and mentors worldwide
RoboCupJunior is an international educational robotics program that introduces students to robotics, programming, and problem solving through hands-on, team-based challenges. It is designed to be accessible to beginners while offering clear pathways for students to progress toward advanced competitions and real-world robotics skills.
Participation in RoboCupJunior supports the development of critical and creative thinking, engineering design, computational thinking, collaboration, and project management. Students learn by building, testing, and improving robots that solve meaningful, real-world inspired problems.
RoboCupJunior is open to school-aged students across a wide range of experience levels, from absolute beginners to highly experienced teams preparing for international events.
RoboCupJunior Challenge Areas
RoboCupJunior is organised into three main challenge areas. Teams choose one challenge to participate in.
🎭 OnStage
OnStage combines robotics, creativity, and performance. Teams design robots that interact with music, storytelling, or choreography, often blending engineering with art and communication.
🚑 Rescue
Rescue challenges simulate search-and-rescue scenarios inspired by disaster response.
- Rescue Line focuses on line following, object detection, and basic autonomy.
- Rescue Maze introduces mapping, navigation, and decision-making in more complex environments.
⚽ Soccer
Soccer challenges teams to build autonomous robots that play football without human control. These challenges emphasize sensing, control, teamwork between robots, and real-time decision making.
Each challenge includes entry-level divisions designed specifically for beginners, allowing teams to start with simple concepts and progress over time.
Competition Divisions and Progression
RoboCupJunior competitions are structured into divisions that reflect experience level, age group, and technical complexity. This structure ensures that:
- New teams can start at an appropriate level
- Experienced teams are continually challenged
- Students can progress year-to-year without needing to start over
The challenges and core rules remain largely consistent from year to year, helping schools and clubs build sustainable programs and reuse equipment.
Forming a Team
Teams typically consist of 2 to 4 students, depending on the challenge and local rules. Schools, clubs, and community groups may enter multiple teams in the same or different challenges.
Teams are encouraged to collaborate, assign roles, and work together throughout the design, build, and testing process.
Technology and Platforms
RoboCupJunior is platform-agnostic. Teams may use a wide range of robotics kits, sensors, and programming environments, depending on the division rules. Common platforms include LEGO-based systems as well as other commercially available or custom-built robots.
This open approach allows schools to:
- Use existing equipment
- Adapt to local availability and budgets
- Focus on learning outcomes rather than specific hardware
Estimated Costs and Sustainability
Most RoboCupJunior equipment is a one-time investment that can be reused across multiple years. The challenges are intentionally designed so that schools and clubs do not need to purchase new kits every season.
Many teams successfully reuse robot kits, sensors, and field elements for several years, making RoboCupJunior a sustainable and cost-effective program.
Local competition entry fees and participation costs vary by region. Workshops and training opportunities are often available to support teachers and mentors.
Events and Participation
RoboCupJunior events are held worldwide and may include:
- Local and regional competitions
- National championships
- International RoboCup events
- Teacher and mentor workshops
In most regions, teams may need to qualify through earlier events to participate in competitions. Schools and clubs can choose the level of involvement that best fits their schedule and resources.
Everyone Can Start
RoboCupJunior is designed so that there is a level for everyone. Whether you are introducing robotics for the first time or supporting advanced students, RoboCupJunior offers a welcoming, inclusive, and globally connected pathway into robotics and STEM learning.
Resources and Support
RoboCupJunior provides a wide range of learning resources to support beginners and experienced teams alike, including:
- Getting started guides
- Challenge-specific tutorials
- Rule documents and example solutions
- Mentor and teacher support networks
These resources are designed to help educators build confidence and enable students to succeed, regardless of prior experience.