3. Competitions
RoboCupRescue is a research competition that encourages students to develop innovative solutions to open response robotics problems in Search and Rescue, Hazardous Materials Response, Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Tactical Reconnaissance.
The Rapidly Manufactured Robot Challenge brings this competition to the high school and undergraduate classroom. It focuses on the challenges of robots operating in confined spaces and makes use of recent advances in low cost rapid prototyping, electronics and sensors to lower the barrier of entry into robotics research.
A wide variety of challenges face response robots operating in confined spaces. This competition encourages teams to develop solutions to problems that include driving over rough terrain, sensing the environment, picking up and delivering objects, intuitive operator control and autonomous behaviours. Solutions to these challenges will be highly interdisciplinary, covering mechanics, electronics, computing and art. The competition is structured so as to reward teams that do well overall, as well as teams that demonstrate innovative advances in specific challenges.
The preliminary round of the RMRC league consists of known course sections that must be completed within fixed 5-minute time slots. During each run, scoring is typically based on how many times each section is successfully completed. The goal is therefore to navigate the course as quickly and efficiently as possible in order to achieve as many repetitions as possible. The main challenge lies in the terrain, which demands robust mechanics and reliable autonomous navigation, if possible.
Elevated Ramps
K-Rails (elevated)
Incline and Center
Laybrinth (K-Rail configuration)
Ramps on Crossover
Sand and Gravel
Hurdle Terrain
Stairs
Align
The RoboCupRescue Robot League is an international community of teams from all over the world. Administered by the US Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology, in collaboration with an international committee of organisers, this community uses competitions and teaching camps to advance the state of the art in response robotics. Alumni of this competition include the Quince robots that were crucial in the response to the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster.
RoboCupRescue Rapidly Manufactured Robot Challenge
Taking part in numerous events with our robot has enabled spectators to see it in action and recognise the necessary aspects of building and controlling such a robot. These events have also given us the opportunity to exchange ideas with other groups, receive helpful information and suggestions for improving our robot, and pass on our own ideas.
One of the events took place at the Christoph-Jakob-Treu School in Lauf. During our stay from the 17th to the 18th of March 2023, several courses were offered to us so that we could deepen our understanding of programming and building the parkour. Throughout the project, the team had ample opportunity to collaborate on developing the robot. Software and hardware experts were able to freely exchange ideas and design new concepts under the guidance of teachers and experts.
Towards the end of the 2022/23 school year, the final of the 'Robots Unite!' project took place at our school. Supervised and organised by Professor Stefan May from the Georg Simon Ohm University of Applied Sciences, the project was designed to encourage participating student teams to collaborate with each other and with their robots to complete a large course, to which all teams had contributed. The course itself was modelled on the well-known video game Portal and included challenging sections as well as entertaining mini-games. Despite some minor technical issues, the day was a remarkable success overall, and it was also covered by the local press. The test also drew our attention to some faults in our robots, which we were subsequently able to rectify.
Our visit to the 'Langen Nacht der Wissenschaft' in November 2023 gave us access to various tools and the opportunity to learn from the organiser's professional knowledge. We also had the chance to test our robot with different par course elements. Although they were incredibly challenging for N10, we gained valuable insight into areas for improvement. We benefited from the helpful and inspiring exchange with other schools at this event, and our teamwork skills were strengthened.
In autumn 2023, we took part in the German Open at the Consumenta in Nuremberg. We achieved third place overall and won the team competition. This gave us an opportunity to identify the weaknesses of N10 and gain an understanding of how the competition in Eindhoven will work.
The final meeting of the participating schools in our region before RoboCup 2024 on 18 June took place at the Technical University of Applied Sciences in Nuremberg. Unfortunately, we experienced some hardware and software issues, but we also had the opportunity to revisit the RoboCup-related challenges and exchange ideas with professionals, as well as discuss problems and receive assistance.
From 17 to 21 July 2024, we took part in the 2024 RoboCup World Championship in Eindhoven. Despite facing many difficulties, we are proud to have gained new international contacts, valuable experience, and strengthened our team spirit. What's more, we won the team competition once again!
In autumn 2024, the German Open RMRC competitions were held again as part of the Consumenta trade fair in Nuremberg, in which we participated.
In March 2025, Nuremberg had the chance to host the entire German Open competition, including all its categories, for the first time. Not only did we achieve a pretty good result (4th place) with our participation, but we also won the team challenge again, as well as the innovation award for being the only team to completly self- build a whole robodog for the entire competition.
Since changing to a project seminar in the 2024/25 school year, our group has grown significantly. Thanks to our excellent teamwork, achievements and project management, we are proud to announce that we have won the ‘Best Project Seminar’ award in our region, Oberpfalz, and in Bavaria as a whole.
In summer, shortly before summer vacations, our school hosted the traditional summer festival, where we also had the chance to presentate our group as well as the procekt itself. Furthermore, children had the opportunity to control our robo dog Idefix.
On Tuesday 24th February 2026, we took part in the ‘Jugend Forscht’ competition and can even report two successes: Christopher Zech won second prize for his project on ‘Autonomous Robot Navigation Using Sensor Data – Rescue AI’, while Jonas Nicklas took first prize, thereby winning the regional competition. He focused on the design and construction of a quadrupet robot. In addition, both received a special prize in the form of a magazine subscription.
Saturday, 21th March 2026, we represendet our school at our school's open day for new students, their families as well as interested people. Once again, children could try their hand at controlling the robot.
We plan to participate in the RoboCup Incheon 2026 with our newest robot, QUAC.
