RoboCupJunior Soccer Rules 2024

Soccer League Committee 2024:
Michael Ambrose
USA
Ryely Burtenshaw-Day
New ZealandIvan Kolarić
Croatia
David Schwarz
Germany
William Plummer
Australia (CHAIR)
Adrián Matejov
Slovakia

Soccer League Committee 2023:
Michael Ambrose
USA (CO-CHAIR)
Javier E. Delgado Moreno
MexicoHikaru Sugiura
Japan
David Schwarz
Germany (CHAIR)
William Plummer
Australia
Adrián Matejov
Slovakia

These are the draft SuperTeam Soccer rules for RoboCupJunior 2024. They are released by the RoboCupJunior Soccer League Committee. The English version of these rules has priority over any translations.
Teams are advised to check the RoboCupJunior Soccer site https://junior.robocup.org/ and Soccer forum
https://junior.forum.robocup.org/c/robocupjunior-soccer/5 for procedures and requirements for the international competition and with local tournament organizers for local, regional and super-regional competitions. Each team is responsible for verifying the latest version of the rules prior to competition. Teams
should ask for clariﬁcations on the Forum where necessary. 1Preface
In the RoboCupJunior Soccer challenge, teams of young engineers design, build, and program two fullyautonomous mobile robots to compete against another team in matches. The robots must detect a balland score into a color-coded goal on a special ﬁeld that resembles a human soccer ﬁeld.
To be successful, participants must demonstrate skill in programming, robotics, electronics and mechatronics. Teams are also expected to contribute to the advancement of the community as a whole bysharing their discoveries with other participants and by engaging in good sportsmanship, regardless ofculture, age or result in the competition. All are expected to compete, learn, have fun, and grow.
These rules are released together with the current regular game rules. Wherever a change isneeded because of the difference with regular games, situation have been analyzed and are ruled
here. For all other situations that do not change from the regular game rules, normally they havebeen only mentioned here as being the same regular game rule.

1.1.1

1

GAMEPLAY

1.1

Game procedure and length of a game

RCJ Soccer SuperTeam games consist of two teams of robots playing soccer against each other. Each teamhas ﬁve autonomous robots. The game will consist of two halves. The duration of each half is 10-minutes.
There will be a 5-minute break in between the halves.
1 The current version of these rules can be found at https://robocup-junior.github.io/soccer-rules/master/superteam rules.html
in HTML form and at https://robocup-junior.github.io/soccer-rules/master/superteam rules.pdf in PDF form.

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1.1.2

The game clock will run for the duration of the halves without stopping (except when a referee wants toconsult another oﬃcial). The game clock will be run by a referee or a referee assistant.

1.1.3

SuperTeams are expected to be at the ﬁeld 5 minutes before their game starts. Being at the inspection
table does not count in favor of this time limit. Teams that are late for the start of the game may bepenalized one goal per 30 seconds at the referee’s discretion.

1.1.4

The ﬁnal game score will be trimmed so that there is at most 10-goal difference between the losing andthe winning team.

1.2
1.2.1

Tournament mode and Bye gamesIn some cases (e.g. uneven number of teams) not every team can play every round. In threse
cases the team that is free from play is awarded a Bye. In SuperTeam matches where fewer
goals are scored the Bye is awarded as a 3:0 victory instead of the usual 10:0. Contact yourregional/super-regional tournament organizers for details at tournaments other than the international RoboCupJunior tournament.

1.3

Pre-match meeting

1.3.1

At the start of the ﬁrst half of the game, a referee will toss a coin. The team mentioned ﬁrst in the drawshall call the coin. The winner of the toss can choose either which end to kick towards, or to kick off ﬁrst.
The loser of the toss chooses the other option. After the ﬁrst half, teams switch sides. The SuperTeam notkicking off in the ﬁrst half of the game will kick off to begin the second half of the game.

1.3.2

During the pre-match meeting the referee or their assistant may check whether the robots are capable ofplaying (i.e., whether they are at least able to follow and react to the ball). If none of the robots is capableof playing, the game will not be played and zero goals will be awarded to both SuperTeams.

1.4

Kick-off

1.4.1

Each half of the game begins with a kick-off. All robots must be located on their own side of the ﬁeld. Allrobots must be halted. The ball is positioned by a referee in the center of the ﬁeld.

1.4.2

The team kicking off places their robots on the Big ﬁeld ﬁrst and the rest of the robots can be locatedanywhere on their side of the playing ﬁeld, as long as they are at a maximum distance of 10 cm from any
white line.

1.4.3

The SuperTeam not kicking off will now place their robots on the defensive end of the Big ﬁeld.

1.4.4

Robots cannot be placed behind the goal line or out of bounds. Robots cannot be repositioned once they
have been placed, except if the referee requests to adjust their placement to make sure that the robots
are placed properly within the ﬁeld positions.

1.4.5

On the referee’s command (usually by whistle), all robots will be started immediately by members of theteam they belong to. Any robots that are started early will be removed by the referee from the ﬁeld anddeemed damaged.

1.4.6

Before a kick-off, all damaged or out-of-bounds robots are allowed to return to the playing ﬁeld immediately if they are ready and fully functional.

1.4.7

If no robots are present at a kick-off (because they have moved out-of-bounds Rule 1.10, Out of bounds
or are damaged Rule 1.11, Damaged robots), the penalties are discarded and the match resumes with aRule 1.4.A, Neutral kick-off.

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1.4.A
1.4.A.1

Neutral kick-off

A neutral kick-off is the same as the one described in Rule 1.4, Kick-off with a small change: all robots
must be at least 30 cm away from the ball (outside of the center circle).

1.5

Human interference

1.5.1

Except for the kick-off, human interference from SuperTeam members (e.g. touching the robots) during
the game is not allowed unless explicitly permitted by a referee. Violating SuperTeam(s) / SuperTeam
member(s) may be disqualiﬁed from the game.

1.5.2

The referee or a referee assistant can help robots get unstuck if the ball is not being disputed near themand if the situation was created from normal interaction between robots (i.e. it was not a design orprogramming ﬂaw of the robot alone). The referee or a referee assistant will pull back the robots justenough for them to be able to move freely again.

1.6
1.6.1

Ball movement

RoboCupJunior Soccer Rules rule Rule 1.6, Ball movement applies.

1.7

Scoring

1.7.1

A goal is scored when the ball strikes or touches the back wall of the goal. Goals scored any robot havethe same end result: they give one goal to the SuperTeam on the opposite side. After a goal, the game will
be restarted with a kick-off from the SuperTeam who was scored against.

1.7.2

After the referee signals that a goal was scored, the referee will invite SuperTeam members to capture
their robots or ask a referee to help capture them and get ready for kick-off.

1.8
1.8.1

RoboCupJunior Soccer Rules rule Rule 1.8, Inside the Penalty Area applies.

1.9
1.9.1

Inside the Penalty Area

Lack of progress

RoboCupJunior Soccer Rules rule Rule 1.9, Lack of progress applies.

1.10

Out of bounds

1.10.1

If a robot’s entire body moves out beyond the white line of the Big ﬁeld, it will be called for being out ofbounds. When this situation arises, the robot is given a one-minute penalty, and the SuperTeam is asked
to remove the robot from the Big ﬁeld. There is no time stoppage for the game itself. The robot is allowed
to return if a kick-off occurs before the penalty has elapsed.

1.10.2The one-minute penalty starts when the robot is removed from play. Furthermore, any goal scored by
the penalized SuperTeam while the penalized robot is on the Big ﬁeld will not be granted. Out-of-bounds
robots can be ﬁxed if the SuperTeam needs to do so, as described in Rule 1.11, Damaged robots.

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1.10.3

After the penalty time has passed, robot will be placed on the unoccupied neutral spot furthest from theball, facing its own goal.

1.10.4

A referee can waive the penalty if the robot was accidentally pushed out of bounds by an opposing robot.
In such a case, the referee may have to slightly push the robot back onto the Big ﬁeld.

1.10.5The ball can leave and bounce back into the Big ﬁeld. The referee calls out of reach, and will move theball to the nearest unoccupied neutral spot when one of the following condition occurs:
1. the ball remains outside the Big ﬁeld too long, after a visible and loud count 2 ,2. any of the robots are unable to return it into the Big ﬁeld (without their whole body leaving the Bigﬁeld), or
3. the referee determines that the ball will not come back into the Big ﬁeld.

1.11
1.11.1

RoboCupJunior Soccer Rules rule Rule 1.11, Damaged robots

1.12
1.12.1

Damaged robots

Interruption of Game

RoboCupJunior Soccer Rules rule Rule 1.12, Interruption of Game applies.

2SUPERTEAM

2.1

Regulations

2.1.1

A SuperTeam is a team of 3 or more regular teams with their corresponding robots, all from the same
sub-league. Regular team is deﬁned on RoboCupJunior Soccer Rules Rule 2.1, Regulations and Rule 3.1,
Number of robots / substitution. Each regular team is required to provide at least one robot for eachSuperTeam game.

2.1.2

Each SuperTeam must have a captain. The captain is the person responsible for communication withreferees. The SuperTeam can replace its captain during the competition. SuperTeam is allowed to have
only the fewest possible members beside the ﬁeld during game play: they will usually be the captain andone member from each individual team who has a robot as an active SuperTeam player (see Soccer Rules
rule Rule 2.1, Regulations).

2.2
2.2.1

Violations

RoboCupJunior Soccer Rules rule Rule 2.2, Violations applies.
2 usually a count of three

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3ROBOTS

3.1

Number of robots / substitution

3.1.1

The SuperTeam will have all the robots from their respective individual teams available to play. In theplaying ﬁeld, the SuperTeam is allowed to use a maximum of 5 robots simultaneously, and they are its
active players. The rest of the robots constitute their reserve players. Since the playing ﬁeld is big, it
is suggested that the SuperTeam establish positions for the robots inside the playing ﬁeld (goalkeeper,backs, midﬁelders, forwards, etc.), by adjusting robot’s mechanics and programming.

3.1.2

The substitution of robots during the competition with other SuperTeam is forbidden. Robots will be
issued a special code that will distinguish them from other SuperTeams. Each robot that belongs to asuperteam will receive an ID identifying the robot as being a member of a team.

3.1.3

Example: Robot A-2: the referee would identify robot with sticker A-2 as robot number 2 belonging toteam A. These IDs will be written on the Top Markers of robots (see RoboCupJunior Soccer Rules rule Rule3.7, Top Markers).

3.1.4

Each individual team is required to have at least one of its robots as an active player, with the exceptionof a sixth team in which case SuperTeam is required to have individual team rotation allowing with thatto include all individual teams evenly. SuperTeam members can decide freely how to substitute robots
between the current players and the reserve players during gameplay, but the captain is required to ask
a referee for robot substitution authorization.

3.1.5

Substitutions are allowed only at every kick-off (see rule Rule 1.4, Kick-off).

3.2
3.2.1

RoboCupJunior Soccer Rules rule Rule 3.2, Interference applies.

3.3
3.3.1

Interference

Control

RoboCupJunior Soccer Rules rule Rule 3.3, Control applies.

3.4

Communication

3.4.1

RoboCupJunior Soccer Rules rule Rule 3.4, Communication applies.

3.4.2

To make SuperTeam games more manageable at present and make communication between multiple
robots in a SuperTeam easier in the future, the Soccer League Committee will provide each team with acommunication module. Each team will be expected to interface with this module using a single 2.54mm
GPIO pin at present and the Soccer League Committee plans on extending this to using UART or I2 C for
more complex applications in future years.

3.4.3

More details will be provided by the Soccer League Committee before the competition.

3.5
3.5.1

Agility

RoboCupJunior Soccer Rules rule Rule 3.5, Agility applies.

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3.6
3.6.1

RoboCupJunior Soccer Rules rule Rule 3.6, Handle applies.

3.7
3.7.1

Additional regulations of the sub-leagues

RoboCupJunior Soccer Rules rule Rule 3.8, Additional regulations of the sub-leagues applies.

3.9
3.9.1

Top Markers

RoboCupJunior Soccer Rules rule Rule 3.7, Top Markers applies.

3.8
3.8.1

HandleViolations

RoboCupJunior Soccer Rules rule Rule 3.9, Violations applies.

4BIGFIELD

4.1

Dimensions of the ﬁeld

4.1.1

The Big ﬁeld is 540 cm by 340 cm. The Big ﬁeld is marked by a white line that is part of the playing ﬁeld.
Around the playing ﬁeld, beyond the white line, is an outer area of 30 cm width. Total dimensions of theBig ﬁeld, including the outer area, are 600 cm by 400 cm. The playing area is divided in sides for eachSuperTeam by a black line.

4.1.2

The ﬂoor near the exterior wall includes a wedge, which is an incline with a 10 cm base and 2 +/- 1 cm risefor allowing the ball to roll back into play when it leaves the playing ﬁeld. Note that the goal should notcontain the wedge.

4.2
4.2.1

RoboCupJunior Soccer Rules rule Rule 4.2, Walls applies.

4.3
4.3.1

FloorRoboCupJunior Soccer Rules rule Rule 4.4, Floor applies.

4.5
4.5.1

Goals

RoboCupJunior Soccer Rules rule Rule 4.3, Goals applies.

4.4
4.4.1

Walls

Neutral spots

There are ﬁve neutral spots deﬁned in the Big ﬁeld. One is in the center of the Big ﬁeld. The other four are
located over the diagonals that go through the corners of the playing ﬁeld, half the distance between theFinal rules as of April 6, 2024

Page 6 of 8center of the ﬁeld and each corner. The neutral spots can be drawn with a thin black marker. The neutral
spots ought to be of circular shape measuring 1 cm in diameter.

4.6
4.6.1

Center circle

A center circle will be drawn on the Big ﬁeld. It is 80 cm in diameter. It is a thin black marker line. It isthere for Referees and SuperTeam members as guidance during kick-off.

4.7

Penalty areas

4.7.1

In front of each goal there is a 35 cm wide and 120 cm long penalty area.

4.7.2

The penalty areas are marked by a white line of 20 mm (±10%) width. The line is part of the area.

4.8
4.8.1

RoboCupJunior Soccer Rules rule Rule 4.8, Lighting and Magnetic Conditions applies.

55.0.1CODE OF CONDUCT

RoboCupJunior Soccer Rules rule Rule 6, CODE OF CONDUCT and its subsections apply.

77.0.1BALL

RoboCupJunior Soccer Rules rule Rule 5, BALL and its subsections apply.

66.0.1

Lighting and Magnetic Conditions

CONFLICT RESOLUTION

RoboCupJunior Soccer Rules rule Rule 7, CONFLICT RESOLUTION and its subsections apply.

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BIG FIELD DIAGRAM

7.0.2

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