2025 RCJ Rescue Maze Rule Changes

[Dieguinilombrin]

Dear RCJ Rescue Line Community,

Before reviewing these changes, please take a look at this other post that discusses the RCJ Rescue rule changes that also applies to RCJ Rescue Maze. Here are the specific Maze changes for the 2025 rules:

RULE CHANGES

C.1) Stairs Usage

Stairs may be used to change the level of the floor, similar to a ramp. The maximum incline angle will be the same as it is today.

C.2) Ramp Design

Ramps must NOT have a drop-off immediately following a rise section, creating a peak-like structure, or vice versa.

C.3) Victim and Exit Bonus Identification

The robot must have one dedicated LED or display for identifying victims, which must be clearly visible to the referee. When reaching the exit bonus, the same LED or display must blink for 10 seconds. This LED or display may not be used for any other purposes. The blink interval must be ~1s (0,5s on - 0,5 sec off).

C.4) Speed Bumps, and Debris Changes

We are making the following changes (only applicable outside the Dangerous Zone):

• Speed bumps are fixed to the floor and have a maximum height of 1 cm.
• Speed bumps are not allowed to be placed on ramps or stairs.
• There is no debris.

C.5) Dangerous Zone

Scenario: Within the labyrinth there can be very difficult and dangerous challenges. Fortunately, the area of such a “danger zone” is marked by a red tile at the entrance. Within the danger zone, the robot may face obstacles, speed bumps, stairs, ramps or debris of extreme difficulty, which can compromise the robot’s coordination and smooth completion of the field. Is it worth sending the robot into such an area, or is it better to play it safe? The choice is yours!

Within the field, certain areas will be designated as Dangerous Zone. The Dangerous Zone is surrounded by walls or black tiles and marked with a red tile at the entrance(s).

The Dangerous Zone is an area considered more challenging than the rest of the field, where the following hazards can be found (in addition to any other elements already on the rest of the field):

• Speed bumps are fixed to the floor and have a maximum height of 2 cm.
• Speed bumps are allowed to be placed on ramps or stairs.
• The debris is not fixed to the floor and has a maximum height of 1 cm.
• The incline of stairs (i.e., the angle of a plate to the horizontal when placed on the stairs) will be less than 30 degrees.

The Dangerous Zone does not block the path for completing the entire map. Therefore, the rest of the field can be completed without entering the Dangerous Zone.

The start position will not be in the Dangerous Zone

Please let us know your feedback as soon as possible as we want to release the official final rules in the upcoming months.

Best,

Diego Garza Rodriguez on behalf of the 2025 RCJ Rescue Committee

[elizabeth.mabrey]

About Maze
Ramp:
“…Ramp points will be awarded for each individual ramp tile instead of for the entire ramp…”
For clarify: So, there are 2 scoring points - 1st inclined tile and the last landing tile ?

“the Ramp in this post …creating a peak-like structure…” Since it did not mention the size for landing area, I think it will important to state the minimize dimension. It is important for the organizer to set it up properly.

Stairs:
" The maximum incline angle will be the same as it is today…’

• for clarify - “… remains as 25 degrees.” Unless, is it left out on purpose? If it is, I recommend to be 100% clear by saying something like … " maximum incline angle remains the same as the maximum degree for stairs in this document."

The Dangerous Zone:

• does it mean that this zone can be connected with a ramp?
• If yes: both starting and exiting for this zone will be the tile before and after the ramp, Correct?
• If that’s the intention, perhaps it will be good to include in the doc?

[Dieguinilombrin]

Hi @elizabeth.mabrey,

Answering your questions:

“…Ramp points will be awarded for each individual ramp tile instead of for the entire ramp…”
For clarify: So, there are 2 scoring points - 1st inclined tile and the last landing tile ?

That change is only for Rescue Line and does not apply for Rescue Maze.

“the Ramp in this post …creating a peak-like structure…” Since it did not mention the size for landing area, I think it will important to state the minimize dimension. It is important for the organizer to set it up properly.

It is the same size for the landing area as before, it is the size of a tile. That image is only clarifying that there needs to be an horizontal tile before changing the ramp direction.

Stairs:
" The maximum incline angle will be the same as it is today…’

• for clarify - “… remains as 25 degrees.” Unless, is it left out on purpose? If it is, I recommend to be 100% clear by saying something like … " maximum incline angle remains the same as the maximum degree for stairs in this document."

Well, we didn’t clarify it here because the stairs have two possible angles. A max angle of 25 degrees outside the danger zone and a max angle of 30 degrees inside the danger zone. Both could be used as a way to change floor levels.

The Dangerous Zone:

• does it mean that this zone can be connected with a ramp?
• If yes: both starting and exiting for this zone will be the tile before and after the ramp, Correct?
• If that’s the intention, perhaps it will be good to include in the doc?

There can be any other element inside the dangerous zone, for example, black tiles, blue tiles, silver tiles, victims, floating walls, obstacles and (but not limited to) ramps. So you don’t need a red tile before and after the ramp, only on the dangerous zone entrances. For example, you can have a dangerous zone that is multiple floors tall and multiple tiles wide. The only thing that the rule is guaranteeing is that there won’t be something like this, an area that you need to go over a dangerous zone to reach another “safer” zone:

Thanks,

Diego Garza Rodriguez
2025 Committee

[moritz_biobrause]

Dear RCJ Rescue Committee,

I would like to suggest reconsidering the inclusion of blue plates in the competition. In my view, the blue plates, in their current form, do not seem to add any value to the challenge. They:

-Pose no real challenge, as a color sensor is already required.
-Make the scoring runs less appealing to spectators. In the viewing statistics of the runs we uploaded to YouTube, there is a noticeable drop in viewer engagement whenever the robot visits a blue tile.
-Consume an unnecessary amount of time during the scoring run.

I understand that there are cases where blue plates can be strategically placed to allow avoidance through smart navigation algorithms. However, at the last RoboCup, this was often not the case. On some fields, the robot had to pass over a single blue tile at least three times to explore the entire maze, which took up a significant amount of time and was overall frustrating.

Therefore, I propose either reducing the time the robot is required to stop on the blue plates, integrating the tiles into the scoring system, or removing them entirely.

EDIT:
If blue tiles in their original purpose are removed, they could be repurposed to mark the entrance of the Dangerous Zone. This way, organizers, schools, and robotics clubs would not need to spend extra money on new materials.

Best regards,
Moritz

[SEARRX]

Hi!
I totally agree with @moritz_biobrause!

1. For most of the teams it isn’t a big challenge to stop for the 5 seconds. In some unlucky cases the color calibration isn’t 100% accurate and a team fails a whole run just because of this.
2. Even as a judge it is boring to watch a robot standing and waiting for nothing.

I think the best solution would be to remove the blue tiles (or give them at least 5-10 points for successful navigation).

---

@Dieguinilombrin
Regarding the danger zone … I guess a point multiplier will be applied to the victims within this area?
That would probably encourage more people to accept the additional challenge!

BR,
Fabian

[MASA]

Hello Diego
Thank you for sharing the outline of the new rules.

C.5) Dangerous Zone

• Speed bumps are allowed to be placed on ramps or stairs.

Is this diagram correct?

Best regards,
MASA

[moritz_biobrause]

Dear RCJ Rescue Committee,

I would like to suggest reconsidering whether stairs should be allowed outside the Dangerous Zone. From my experience, stairs are generally the most challenging field element to overcome, especially when they are long (as required to change levels). In these cases, all of the robot’s wheels (or tracks) are on the stairs simultaneously, increasing the difficulty significantly.

At the last German Open, one of the fields included a staircase that spanned an entire tile, similar to the proposed level-changing stairs. Every team faced significant difficulties in navigating this obstacle.

For this reason, I believe that stairs should be exclusively found in the Dangerous Zone.

Best regards,
Moritz

[MASA]

Hello Diego
Thank you for sharing the outline of the new rules

I have a request regarding the rules of Rescue Maze

In Rescue Maze Rules 2024 2.3.1
Tiles that lead to the starting tile consistently following the leftmost or rightmost wall are
called ‘linear tiles’. The tiles that do NOT lead to the starting tile consistently following the
leftmost or rightmost wall are called ‘floating tiles’.

Under the current rules, linear tiles and floating tiles are determined based on whether they are connected to the start tile. I would like this determination to be made not only for start tiles but also for checkpoint tiles.
→
Tiles that lead to the starting tile (or Check Point tile) consistently following the leftmost or rightmost wall are called ‘linear tiles’. The tiles that do NOT lead to the starting tile (or Check Point tile) consistently following the leftmost or rightmost wall are called ‘floating tiles’.

For example

If there is a checkpoint at the blue mark, restarting from that checkpoint after a LOP will allow the robot to easily reach the floating tile.

Best regards,
MASA

[juan.torresf]

Hi, first of all I’d like to introduce myself. I’m captain of RC-Polaris. We attended to Bordeaux for Robocup 2023 representing Mexico as Phobos. We’d like to come back to compete in São Paulo in 2025.

I think it’s a very good idea that you want to add all these new changes to the category. It’s a breath of fresh air.

I’d like to start a general question that is not related to the new changes. What is the Reliability Bonus? I’ve never seen it taken into account for any scoring run, unlike the Exit Bonus.

@Dieguinilombrin

A.1) AI-Based Solutions

With all due respect, it’s complete mistake to not limit the IA, at least for me. It’s well known what artificial intelligence can do nowadays and giving free rein to any team to use any tool is “killing” the category (at least in the part of victim identification). Now even a 6 year-old-child can “make” and “train” a “model” in less than a week with a husky or edge impulse.

As a participant, it’s always interesting and fun to talk with other teams and a very recurrent question is: “how do you detect the letters?”. Now the most common answer will be: “a web page trained me a model” would be very sad to me. It’s taking away a very important part of the essence of Rescue Maze .

@Dieguinilombrin

C.3) Victim and Exit Bonus Identification

At the moment of identifying a victim, if while the led or display is blinking, can kits be deployed? It seems to me that this subject has been discussed before in the forum but it was not very clear to me.

@Dieguinilombrin

This LED or display may not be used for any other purposes.

Later, in the case of using a display as a data management system (to know the robot’s information flow during round), couldn’t the referee be told before that the display will show a different message for the victims?

For example, it’d normally show how many inches away each side of the robot is from the walls: “Front 5’‘. Right 4’‘. Back 3’'”, but at the moment of identifying a victim it’d show a message such as: “Letter Victim Detected Left. 150,500”. All this with the only purpose of not be forced to implement a LED because if we use a display, we couldn’t use it for anything else.

@Dieguinilombrin

Fortunately, the area of such a “danger zone” is marked by a red tile at the entrance.

There will only and always be one entrance and one exit to the Dangerous Zone?

@Dieguinilombrin

The Dangerous Zone is an area considered more challenging than the rest of the field, where the following hazards can be found (in addition to any other elements already on the rest of the field):

A recommendation as a competitor, is to give a bonus to each element within the danger zone. For example, bumpers inside the danger zone (whether 1cm or 2cm) should be awarded with 10 points as opposed to outside the danger zone, which would only be 5 points; the same for everything that counts for the scoring run.

Another interesting idea would be to try to make the Dangerous Zone even more dangerous (or not) but give it more rewards. It could be associated with the exit bonus, which seems to me to be one of the final goals of the category, it shows that the robot is able to fulfill almost 100% of everything the category demands. Even a new bonus …

You can be very creative with the Dangerous Zone and all that it entails. It’d be a pity that such a good idea wastes all its potential. I’m glad that a post has been made in the forum to know our opinion .

[juan.torresf]

Hi Mortiz, first I’d like to congratulate you for winning the last Robocup in Eindhoven, you did a great job! I understand some of your opinions but I don’t completely agree with them.

@moritz_biobrause

I would like to suggest reconsidering the inclusion of blue plates in the competition. In my view, the blue plates, in their current form, do not seem to add any value to the challenge.

I think blue tiles are necessary for the category. After all they are an abstraction of what can happen in a natural disaster, as mentioned in RoboCupJunior Rescue Maze
Rules 2024 2.2.5.a.

My main argument in favor of blue tiles was mentioned by yourself:

@moritz_biobrause

I understand that there are cases where blue plates can be strategically placed to allow avoidance through smart navigation algorithms.

So I don’t think I need to go into details about it.

But I can’t lie to you that it becomes too much the time invested in standing, especially in some mazes where they’re so badly positioned that make the maze insufferable as you mentioned. I suggest that the organizers take this in mind when designing the mazes. Don’t saturate the whole maze with so many blue tiles. You could even implement a maximum of blue tiles in the rules.

@moritz_biobrause

I would like to suggest reconsidering whether stairs should be allowed outside the Dangerous Zone.

Finally, I differ a little from the idea you have about large stairs. It’d be a contradiction to the definition of the Dangerous Zone since to go to a safe zone (another level) you’d need to go through the Dangerous Zone first. Unless you suggest that multiple levels are exclusive to the dangerous zone, which I am totally against.

I’d like to know your opinion about what I think and in the future we can compete together. I’m excited to see what BioBrause can do!

[juan.torresf]

Hi MASA, I hope you are well. I totally agree with you!

@MASA

I would like this determination to be made not only for start tiles but also for checkpoint tiles.

Even an algorithm that is:

• Go straight without stopping until you find a wall around you.
• Align yourself according to the wall found.
• Do rightmost or leftmost.

It could even be against the rules as mentioned in 4.4.3:

Teams cannot give their robot any information about the field. A robot is supposed to recognize the field elements by itself.

Because in most cases, in order to go from a checkpoint or starting tile to a floating wall, the robot has to be positioned at an angle. This can be considered as giving the robot information about the map “indirectly”.

Another example could be sticking the robot closer to one wall than another at the start of the round or after LoP and depending on that, the robot decides whether to use one algorithm or another.

This is a topic that I had already discussed with other participants in TMR (Mexican Robotics Tournament or “Torneo Mexicano de Robótica” in Spanish, the national tournament that must be won to be able to represent Mexico in RoboCup) and they think similarly, I hope the committee can solve our doubts.

[CsabaAbanJr]

Hi @moritz_biobrause @SEARRX @juan.torresf

Thank you for your suggestion! We have considered it, however, we can reward teams that complete the task faster using the blue tiles, which is why we do not want to remove it from the rules.

Csaba,
2025 Committee

[CsabaAbanJr]

Hi @MASA

Thank you for the feedback and the illustration! We discussed it and decided not to implement this rule change, so there will be no speed bumps on the stairs.

Csaba
2025 Committee

[CsabaAbanJr]

Hi @moritz_biobrause @juan.torresf

Thank you for the suggestion! We have considered it; however, we would like to keep the stairs outside the danger zone as well, because we don’t want to overly restrict the area outside the danger zone.

Csaba
2025 Committee

[CsabaAbanJr]

Hi @MASA

Thank you for bringing up this situation! It’s true that using a wall-following algorithm in this way could indeed allow the robot to reach a floating tile. However, we believe that if a team is observant and recognizes these opportunities, there’s no issue with awarding floating tile points for identifying a victim in this case.

Csaba
2025 Committee