Student Robotics is a registered charity that runs an annual robotics competition for teams of 16 to 19 year-olds. The charity aims to foster a world where engineering and artificial intelligence is accessible to young people with a stated mission "to bring the excitement of engineering and the challenge of coding to young people through robotics". The competition is free to enter and teams are provided with all of the core electronics that they need to build a robot. To encourage creative and ingenious solutions to problems, constraints on design (other than overall size) are kept to a minimum, and the students can build and fashion their robots with any materials they choose; this results in a wide range of quirky, original robots. The robots must operate autonomously; once they are switched on to compete no interference from the team is allowed.
The organisation was founded at the University of Southampton in 2006 by Robert Gilton and Stephen English. Students at the University of BristolAutumn 2010 issue of LynchPin Bristol Engineering newsletter and Grenoble INP joined the project in 2010. In 2016 the organisation became a registered charity.
Student Robotics competition The competition is designed, organised and managed by a team of volunteers ("Blueshirts"). Most volunteers have previously competed in an annual competition and many have gone on to study robotics, computer science or engineering at university. The competition takes place over a weekend in April/May. There are a series of league matches, spread over two half days, where each team competes against 3 other robots, to score points. On the afternoon of the second day, the points from the league table determine the rounds for the knockout stage, which eventually determines the winners of the competition.
Teams are introduced to the competition, and provided with their kit, at a "KickStart" event at the beginning of the academic year in October. Kickstart involves briefings on the competition challenge, and its rules, by Student Robotics volunteers. There is also a mini-game to introduce the teams to the kit. During the competition cycle, "Tech Days" held at various locations where teams are encouraged to work on their robot under the supervision of Student Robotics' Volunteers.
Historically the competition has been hosted on the Highfield Campus of the University of Southampton, however the 2014 and 2015 competitions were held at Newbury Racecourse Grandstand. Kickstart is also held on the Highfield Campus of the University of Southampton, but for the 2014 competition there were Kickstarts at the University of Bristol and Gresham's School, and for the 2015 competition there were Kickstarts at the University of Bristol, Facebook's office in London, and the Technical University of Munich. In 2017, two Kickstart events were held, at the University of Southampton and at the offices of Thread in London.
The competition rules mandate that the robots are autonomous, rather than remote controlled. The competitors may program their robot in Python via an IDE provided by Student Robotics. Student Robotics does not ban, nor support other methods than the IDE for programming their robots.
The competition is free to enter although schools have to make their own travel arrangements and provide the materials to build a chassis and fashion their robot. In some years a small budget has been given to schools.
Robotics kit Another group of volunteers (the Kit Team) develops and maintains a modular "robotics kit" that is provided to every team. The current revision of the kit uses a Raspberry Pi 4 as its central controller; previously both an Odroid U3 (2015 - 2022) and BeagleBoard have been used. Most competitors use the Python programming language and teams are given access to a software library to ease interaction with the kit. However, it is not a requirement that they use Python or the library.
The main contents of the kit are: A Power Board (Central control and power distribution) Raspberry Pi 4 2GB with a KCH HAT Two Motor Boards (Boards for controlling brushed DC motors) A Ruggeduino Board (General purpose digital I/O and analogue input) A Servo Board (Board for controlling up to twelve servos) A USB Webcam Two 11.1V 2200mAh Lithium Polymer batteries
The software library includes a vision system based on OpenCV, although previously a system called libkoki was specifically developed for the competition. This allows for markers, placed in the arena, on other robots and on game objects/obstacles, to be seen by the robot. These provide information such as distance, position and rotation.
As the competition is free to enter, Student Robotics requires that the kit is returned post-competition.
Competitions
2025: "Urban Heights"
The competition that was held at the University of Southampton on 12 and 13 April 2025.
TeamFirst PlaceThe Highfield SchoolSecond PlaceSt Helen & St Katharine SchoolThird PlaceRuthin SchoolExcellence in Engineering AwardQueen Mary's CollegeRookie AwardThe Highfield SchoolRobot and Team Image AwardSt Helen & St Katharine SchoolOnline PresenceSt Helen & St Katharine SchoolFirst to Complete ChallengesRoyal Grammar School, Guildford
Details on the 2025 competition and awards can be found in the 2025 rulebook and 2025 challenges document
2024: "Final Frontier"
The competition that was held at the University of Southampton on 13 and 14 April 2024.
TeamFirst Place"MAI" - Gymnasium Markt Indersdorf, GermanySecond PlaceWisbech Grammar SchoolThird PlaceThe Ladies' College GuernseyExcellence in Engineering AwardAbingdon SchoolRookie AwardThe Henry Box SchoolRobot and Team Image Award"MAI" - Gymnasium Markt Indersdorf, GermanyOnline PresenceWestminster City SchoolChallenges AwardRoyal Grammar School, Guildford
Details on the 2024 competition and awards can be found in the 2024 rulebook
2023: "Greed"
The competition that was held at the University of Southampton on 1 and 2 April 2023.
TeamFirst PlaceHaberdashers’ SchoolSecond PlaceAbingdon SchoolThird Place"MAI" - Gymnasium Markt Indersdorf, GermanyCommittee AwardQueen Mary's CollegeRookie AwardSherborne SchoolRobot and Team Image AwardHaberdashers’ SchoolOnline PresenceHampton School and Lady Eleanor Holles SchoolChallenges AwardQueen Mary's College
Details on the 2023 competition and awards can be found in the 2023 rulebook
2022: "This Way Up"
This task involved moving and stacking cans of food in an arena, and marks the return of Student Robotics to an in-person competition following the COVID-19 pandemic.
This competition year also marked a transition to Python 3 on the physical kit, and a new computer vision system based on OpenCV.
23 teams attended the competition that was held at the University of Southampton on 23 and 24 April 2022. Notably, the competition had two arenas, one for testing only and one for matches. The arenas were also smaller than previous years at 6.5m x 6.5m, compared to the previous 8m x 8m.
+TeamFirst Place Hills Road Sixth Form CollegeSecond Place Queen Mary's CollegeThird Place Brockenhurst CollegeRookie Award Abingdon SchoolCommittee Award Queen Mary's CollegeRobot and Team Image Hills Road Sixth Form CollegeOnline Presence Hampton School and Lady Eleanor Holles School
2021: "Radars of the Lost Ark" This task involved using virtual radios to navigate an arena and "claim" a number of towers. The 2021 competition was held remotely using the same simulator framework that was used for the 2020 competition, which allowed for this novel navigation system in addition to a number of more traditional sensor components.
Due to the remote nature of the competition, the usual structure of having a weekend with all matches on was replaced with four game "modules". League sessions were held over a number of weeks, with a new module and therefore additional complexity introduced into the game after each league session. TeamFirst PlaceSt Paul's CollegeSecond PlaceYayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal BolkiahThird PlaceThe Malay College Kuala KangsarRookie AwardWe RobotCommittee AwardHills Road Sixth Form College Team 2Online PresenceYayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah
2020: "Two Colours" This task involved gathering cardboard boxes (tokens) of exactly one colour. Both Gold and Silver tokens were placed in the arena. A central raised platform was placed at the centre of the arena to act as an obstacle.
The competition was due to be held at Reading University Students Union on 18 and 19 April, but was delayed, and then eventually cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A virtual competition was held instead of the physical competition across three weekends in July 2020. A simulated environment based on Webots was developed and distributed to teams. Teams were instructed to submit code at the start of each competition day, so that matches could be pre-recorded, and then live-streamed over YouTube.
This final resulted in a 4-way tie so a tiebreaker match was held, the first since 2013. TeamFirst Place JAMDynamicsSecond Place Kenilworth Sixth FormThird Place Lawrence Sheriff SchoolRookie Award Kenilworth Sixth FormCommittee Award South Wilts Grammar SchoolOnline Presence "MAI" - Gymnasium Markt Indersdorf, Germany The Robot and Team Image award was not issued this year. This year also marked the first year to use Python 3 for student code, albeit only for the competition simulator.
2019: "Caldera" This task involved moving cardboard boxes (tokens) around the arena in order to capture zones. A central "volcano" was placed at the centre of the arena to act as an obstacle; zones on the volcano were worth more points.
37 teams attended the competition that was held at the University of Southampton on 6 and 7 April 2019. +TeamFirst Place The Ladies' College GuernseySecond Place Hills Road Sixth Form CollegeThird Place Hampton School and Lady Eleanor Holles SchoolRookie Award Eltham CollegeCommittee Award South Wilts Grammar SchoolRobot and Team Image Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' SchoolOnline Presence The College of Richard Collyer
2018: No Competition Held There was no Student Robotics competition in 2018. Due to some organisational issues within the charity, it was decided to take a year off to reorganise and ensure the longevity of the charity.
Two alternate competitions were held with very similar characteristics and involved many of the original volunteers.
SourceBots - A ten team competition was held at the University of Southampton on 21 and 22 April. Hills Road Robocon - A twelve team competition was held at Hills Road Sixth Form College.
2017: "Easy as ABC" The task involved picking up cardboard cubes labelled A, B or C, and placing them in the team's allocated zone, scoring additional points by collecting cubes in the order ABC.
The competition was held on 31 March to 1 April 2017 at The Racecourse, Newbury.
Prize Team First Place CATS College Cambridge Second Place Hills Road Sixth Form College Third Place The College of Richard Collyer Rookie Award Dr Challoner's Grammar School Committee Award Lawrence Sheriff School Robot and Team Image Hills Road Sixth Form College Online Presence "MAI" - Gymnasium Markt Indersdorf, Germany
Details on the 2017 competition and awards can be found in the 2017 rulebook
2016: "Sunny side Up" The task involved rotating cardboard cubes to the colour of the respective teams, and scoring additional points by picking up the cubes and placing them in the corners.
The competition was held on 30 April to 1 May 2016 at The Racecourse, Newbury.
Prize Team First Place Royal Grammar School, Guildford Second Place The Ladies' College Third Place Gordano School Rookie Award The Ladies' College Committee Award Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys Robot and Team Image "MAI" - Gymnasium Markt Indersdorf, Germany Online Presence Queen Mary's College
Details on the 2016 competition and awards can be found in the 2016 rulebook
2015: "Capture the Flag"