Every year robot builders converge in Atlanta to show off their robotic creations and compete. Everyone is welcome to attend as a spectator or a contestant. If you do plan to bring a robot and compete, please be sure to register in advance. Registration will open closer to the Robot Rally.

First through third place winners receive a certificate. Small prizes may also be available to winners of each event.

Check out videos of prior year contests on our Botlanta Youtube channel.

General Requirements and Information

The contests are open to all builders - membership in the club is not required. Online registration will be accepted until midnight the day before the Robot Rally. Late entries may not make it into the schedule. Although we will schedule as many robots as possible, we have limited time and registration will be on a 'First come, First serve' basis.

Entrants should arrive by 9 AM on the day of the Robot Rally. A table will be provided for the contestant to display his or her robots. We ask that all entrants prepare a sign or document explaining the robot to the general public. Contestants should be willing to discuss their robot, construction techniques, and robotics in general to the attendees. Contestants may be photographed by the club photographer, and may be interviewed by the media. Interviews are voluntary.

Some contests may require qualification testing by the judging staff. Robot builders may observe such qualification, but the robots may not be modified after qualification without the consent of the judging staff.

Contestants should be prepared to remain for the entire Robot Rally unless other arrangements have been made with the Robot Rally Committee or Staff. Prizes/Awards are presented after the Robot Rally, and contestants are requested to remain for the award ceremony. Some Prizes/Awards will be presented at a later date and may be mailed to the winners at the club's discretion.

Commercial robots are not allowed to compete in the contests. These are robots that have had no major modifications made to the basic device, that is, a robot vacuum cleaner may NOT be entered in the contests. Determination of qualification is made by the judging staff and is final.

Registration will be available closer to when RObot Rally is scheduled.

Robot Rally Contests

Polyathlon

Polyathlon is our premiere event, in which robots will compete in a series of 6 contests. The contests are Simple Line Follower, Advanced Line Follower, Beacon Killer, Beacon Killer with Obstacles, Navigation by Dead Reckoning and Bulldozer. Each robot will receive a score for each contest, and the robot with the highest total score at the end of all 6 contests wins.

These six contests are designed to challenge the robot builder to find the best balance of size, weight, speed, and other features to achieve the highest total score. In 2018 amidst fierce competition, Polymax 9000 was the first Polyathlon robot to come in first place in all 6 contests to achieve a perfect score .

A robot does not have to compete in all 6 contests to participate. While the most successful Polyathlon robots tend to be built from scratch, there are many robot kits available which perform well in individual contests. Examples include the Pololu 3pi for Line Following and the Zumo32U4 for Bulldozer.

Polyathlon Rules

Cube Quest

In this head-to-head competition, two radio-controlled robots each start in their goal area and then roam a 6x6 foot field full of red and blue blocks. The goal is to bring Red blocks into your goal and put the Blue blocks in the opponent's goal. Each red block in your goal is worth +1 point while any blue blocks in your goal are -1 point. Robots are allowed to move blocks into or out of either goal: Stealing +1 red blocks from your opponents goal and pushing -1 blue blocks out of your own goal are both allowed. The robot with the most points in their goal at the end of a 3 minute round wins. The winner of each round moves up in the bracket, single or double elimination brackets may be used depending on the number of competitors and available time. Cube Quest Rules

Mini Sumo

Two robots compete to push the opponent out of the ring. The first robot to touch the ground outside of the ring loses the round, even if it is not pushed out by the opponent. The winner of each match must win two-out-of-three rounds. The match winner moves up the bracket, single or double elimination brackets may be used depending on the number of competitors and time available. Each round has a 3-minute time limit with a mandatory five-second start delay. Robots must weight under 500 gm, not exceed 10 cm x 10 cm size, and be fully autonomous - no radio control is allowed. Mini Sumo Rules