2026 RCJ Rescue Draft Rules

RoboCupJunior Rescue
1

Dear RCJ Rescue Community,

I’m excited to announce that the 2026 draft rules for the RCJ Rescue leagues are online and ready to be consumed. You can find them here:

RCJ Rescue Line: RCJ Rescue Line – RoboCupJunior
RCJ Rescue Maze: RCJ Rescue Maze – RoboCupJunior
RCJ Rescue Simulation: RCJ Rescue Simulation (Webots-Erebus) – RoboCupJunior

I want to thank everyone who took the time to review the proposed changes that were previously shared in other forum posts, sharing their thoughts and proposing their ideas. Our goal as the RCJ Rescue Committee is to continue improving the leagues that we have, creating better learning opportunities for the competitors while looking for the next generation of innovations. Please review these draft rules and provide any feedback as soon as possible, as we will be releasing the final rules really soon.

Best,

Diego Garza Rodriguez on behalf of the 2026 RCJ Rescue Committee

3 Likes
2

Thank you for sharing the draft rules for Rescue Line 2026. I have a few concerns about the changes made to the previous rules and a few regarding the 2025 rules.

The evacuation zone is 120 cm by 90 cm with walls around the four sides at least 10 cm high and of any color (except for red, green, and black). The posts joining the walls of the evacuation zone can be of any color (except for red, green, and black).

Regarding the evacuation zone wall colors, could you please specify which colors may be used (excluding red, green, and black) so that teams can practice under realistic conditions?

The organizers may place white LED lights, mounted perpendicular to the wall, on the upper
part of the walls. They may not be placed in the corners where the triangles are located.

Since white LED lights may be placed on the walls, will these LEDs affect the readings of RGB/color sensors or camera-based vision systems? If so, how should teams account for this during detection?

The organizers may place fake victims (objects or images) that resemble real victims in the
evacuation zone. Robots should ignore them.

In the case of fake victims placed in the evacuation zone:

  • Will teams receive any points for correctly ignoring fake victims?
  • Will points be deducted if a fake victim is picked up and placed in the evacuation point?
  • If a robot picks up a victim, verifies it as fake, and then drops it, how will this be scored?

3.6. Intersections and Dead Ends

  1. The organizers can place intersections anywhere except in the evacuation zone.
  2. Intersection markers are green and 25 mm x 25 mm in dimension. They indicate the direction of the path the robot should follow.
  3. The robot should continue straight ahead if there is no green marker at an intersection.
  4. A dead end is when there are two green marks before an intersection (one on each side of the line); in this case, the robot should turn around.
  5. The intersections are always perpendicular but may have 3 or 4 branches.
  6. Intersection markers will be placed just before the intersection. See the images below for possible scenarios.

For intersections, the rules do not specify the minimum distance or gap between two consecutive intersections. Could you please clarify if there is a defined minimum spacing?

Thanks

3

Hello @ASrobotics ,

Answering your questions:

  1. I expect that the most likely color organizer will use will be white (because they already have fields from last year) or gray (as the aluminum poles are commonly used for this piece of the field). Keep in mind that if an organizer wants to use bright orange it is within the rules and it is expected for the teams to be able to adapt to that.

  2. That’s exactly the goal of the LED lights being added to the rules :slight_smile: The goal is for teams to don’t depend on one type of sensor, implement their own lighting sources to minimize noise and have redundancy in mind for scenarios where one of the sensors is affected due this external lighting.

  3. No points for ignoring a fake victim, no points deducted if a fake victim is picked nor if placed in the evacuation zone. The fake victims are added with the intention to slow down the teams if they don’t do a good job in differentiating a real vs a fake victim, but won’t have any points implications in the final score.

  4. There is no minimum distance between two intersections. It could be possible to have an intersection right after another intersection by just leaving a small space between each green marker to make sure they don’t interfere with each other :slight_smile:

Thanks,

Diego Garza Rodriguez
2026 Committee

4

Thanks for your reply

  1. I expect that the most likely color organizer will use will be white (because they already have fields from last year) or gray (as the aluminum poles are commonly used for this piece of the field). Keep in mind that if an organizer wants to use bright orange it is within the rules and it is expected for the teams to be able to adapt to that.

Just to clarify: if an organiser chooses a colour like orange, would that typically apply to just a specific section or wall, or should we prepare for the entire perimeter to be that colour?"