RoboCupJunior USA Soccer

In the soccer competition, teams of two to four students design and program two robots to play soccer against an opposing pair of robots.  The robots are fully autonomous and use sensors to find and kick the ball into their opponent's goal.

Teams have a choice of using two attacking robots or an attacker teamed with a goalie. Students may use any technology they choose, so long as the robots meet the competition's design guidelines, such as size and weight.  

Robots vary in sophistication, and many use a variety of sensors including inertial measurement unit sensors (IMUs), rangefinders, reflectance or RGB sensors, and rotary encoders.

Soccer Sub-Leagues

The soccer competition is composed of two sub-leagues: Lightweight and Standard Weight.

SOCCER LIGHTWEIGHT

In the Soccer Lightweight sub-league, robots play soccer with a ball that emits pulsing infrared light.  The robots must use infrared sensors to find and capture the ball.  The size of the robots is up to 22.00cm (diameter/height). The robots can't weigh more than 1100g and generally are faster than the heavier Standard Weight Sub-League robots.  The Soccer Lightweight sub-league is divided into two age brackets: Soccer Lightweight Primary is for teams in which all members are 8-13. Soccer Lightweight Secondary is for teams in which all members are 14-19.  All ages are determined as of July 1, 2022.  PLEASE NOTE that Soccer Lightweight at the RoboCupJunior international championships will have ONLY the Secondary sub-league and not a Primary sub-league.  Accordingly, teams wishing to be able to qualify to participate in internationals must compete in the Secondary sub-league at the USA competition.

SOCCER STANDARD WEIGHT

In the Soccer Standard Weight sub-league, robots play soccer with a bright orange street hockey ball.  The robots must use cameras and computer vision to find and capture the ball.  The size of the robots is up to 18.00cm (diameter/height). The robots must weigh less than 2200g, so Standard Weight robots are generally much heavier and more complex than Lightweight sub-league robots.  Standard Weight sub-league team members must be 14-19 as of July 1, 2022.

Soccer Team Size

Each Soccer team should have 2 to 4 members.

Competition Rules

Competition rules are posted in the Team Resources section of this site.