RoboCupJunior USA Soccer

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

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.

Each Soccer team must have 2 to 4 members. 

Soccer Sub-Leagues

There are two soccer sub-leagues in the US tournament: Soccer Lightweight (using an infrared ball) and Soccer Open (using an orange golf ball). Both sub-leagues use the same field and are played with two robots on each team. Teams have the choice of making two identical robots or optimizing one robot for defense and another for offense. A team can participate in either sub-league; there is no requirement to participate in one sub-league before or after another. No team member, however, is permitted to compete in the Soccer Lightweight sub-league for more than two seasons. All team members must have technical roles. Robot design, construction, and operation must be student-centered.

SOCCER LIGHTWEIGHT SUB-LEAGUE (INFRARED BALL)

The Lightweight sub-league is a highly competitive game that inspires students to build the optimum robot to play soccer using a ball that emits IR light. This sub-league is great for students who want to test their engineering skills. They must iterate and improve upon their designs, strategies, and skills each season to remain competitive. The IR ball is designed to allow teams to track a fast moving ball much easier than would be the case with a passive ball (i.e. one that does not emit light). This makes for very fast moving robots in a fast paced game! Teams wishing to begin competing in this sub-league are highly encouraged to get a head start by studying past designs starting with resources available here.

The Soccer Lightweight sub-league is divided into two age brackets: (1) Soccer Lightweight Primary, in which all team members are 8-13, and (2) Soccer Lightweight, in which all team members are 14-19.  All ages are determined as of July 1, 2024. As mentioned above, no team member can participate in the Soccer Lightweight sub-league for more than two seasons, but that restriction does not apply to the Soccer Lightweight Primary age bracket.

SOCCER OPEN SUB-LEAGUE (ORANGE GOLF BALL)

Soccer Open sub-league robots play soccer with an orange golf ball. They track the ball with optical sensors (i.e. cameras) and computer vision software. Although Soccer Open sub-League robots are permitted to be twice the weight of Lightweight sub-league robots, current technology makes tracking a passive ball much more challenging for humans and robots alike! This league is great for students who would like to tackle concepts in robot communication, computer vision, and machine learning rather than focusing on squeezing out every ounce of performance. This league is on the cutting edge of technology and aligns closely with RoboCup’s mission of promoting robotics and AI research. RoboCup’s ambitious goal is that “by the middle of the 21st century, a team of fully autonomous humanoid robot soccer players shall win a soccer game, complying with the official rules of [soccer governing body] FIFA, against the winner of the most recent World Cup”.  So this is a great way for students to get experience before moving onto the non-junior leagues! Team members must be 14 to 19 years old as of July 1, 2024. 

Soccer Challenges

In addition to the two sub-leagues described above, RoboCupJunior USA has two “challenges”, which are competitions that, for a variety of reasons, are not official sub-leagues.

SOCCER ENTRY LIGHTWEIGHT CHALLENGE (INFRARED BALL)

RoboCupJunior USA is currently assessing the interest level in establishing a Soccer Entry Lightweight challenge by hosting a trial at the 2024 USA competition. For the Entry LIghtweight challenge, each team has only one robot and the robots play within a walled field so they do not need to stay inside any lined boundaries. (Think indoor soccer.) This removes a significant hurdle faced by teams in the Soccer Lightweight sub-league. The Entry Lightweight challenge uses the same infrared ball as the Lightweight sub-league, allowing teams to learn to track the ball with simple sensors rather than complex computer vision algorithms. Participation this season is open to anyone who is in 6th grade or above. Although there is currently no age cap, any team that may be of age next season may not participate again in this challenge and must play up to a sub-league. This is a great way to try out RCJ soccer for little cost and a functional robot can be built in under 24 hours. If you are interested, please email mike.ambrose@robocupjunior.us directly for help getting started!

INTERNATIONAL SIMULATION CHALLENGE (VIRTUAL COMPETITION)

The Simulation challenge allows teams an opportunity to test their soccer playing algorithms using the WeBots simulator. The simulation challenge teams will compete virtually during the RoboCupJunior International Competition July 18-21, 2024. This is not a US competition in 2024 but we are happy to help interested teams get started. Submission deadlines usually align with the international competition submission dates and the specific challenges are typically announced in March. Please continue to check the RCJ Soccer international web page for information.

Soccer Team Size

Each Soccer team should have 2 to 4 members.

Competition Rules

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