French Robotics Cup
The Legend of Camelot
See you on 5–8 May 2027 at the Parc Expo Les Oudairies in La Roche-sur-Yon, France, for the new edition of the Cup!
This year, robots think they are knights: build Camelot, keep the Grail safe and storm the opposing castle.
What is the Cup?
Organised every year by Planète Sciences, the Coupe de France de Robotique (French Robotics Cup) is the largest amateur robotics competition in France and the French qualifier for the European Eurobot final.
How it works:
- each team builds one fully autonomous main robot: no remote control, it has to find its way and act on its own;
- it may be joined by PAMIs (Petits Actionneurs Mobiles Indépendants, small independent mobile robots), which are also autonomous;
- each match pits two teams, blue and yellow, against each other on a 3 m × 2 m table;
- every match lasts 100 seconds: the robots must score as many points as possible without crashing into their opponent;
- the rules, and therefore the missions, change every year. The whole robot has to be reinvented.
Before playing, every robot goes through homologation: referees check its safety, its dimensions (at most 1,200 mm in perimeter at the start and 350 mm high) and its ability to score at least one point.
2027 edition: The Legend of Camelot
Once upon a time, in the land of robots who thought they were knights, a robot named Arthur set off on a quest for the Grail. But another robot also claimed to be King Arthur and wanted to steal his precious Grail: it had to be kept safe behind the walls of Camelot!
On the table: the throne room (starting area), the castle courtyard, the ramparts, the moats, the stables (where the PAMIs start) and the stone quarries. Four “feats of arms” score points. None is mandatory, and they can be done in any order.
1. Building glorious Camelot
Thirty stones (cardboard boxes measuring 320 × 110 × 110 mm, about 90 g each) wait in the quarries, three at a time. The robot must collect them and place them in its ramparts, following the architect’s plans:
- a wall: three stones lying flat, stacked on top of each other;
- a tower: one standing stone;
- a gate: two standing stones topped by a third lying flat. Only one gate per castle!
2. There is only one, and it’s mine!
Each team makes its own Grail and places it in the throne room before the match. The robot then has to raise it as high as possible so everyone can see it: on one, two or three stones (10, 20 or 30 cm), or even on its own roof, above 30 cm.
3. The return of the king
Once Camelot is built, the king returns to feast: at the end of the match, the main robot must be parked in the throne room, a 50 × 50 cm square.
4. Charge!
From the 85th second, it’s time to attack. The knights (the PAMIs) leave the stables to reach the opposing castle’s moats, and may even cross swords with the enemy PAMIs. The robot and the PAMIs can also bombard the opposing courtyard with cannonballs, 45 mm foam balls. The rules state that nothing may be used that is “nastier than an adult rabbit”…
The 2027 rules
The 2027 game rules are currently in beta: the points table has not been set yet and will be published with the official version. We will update this page when it is.