CIRC 2027 Rules and Guidelines

General participation and design rules for CIRC 2027 are found below. Teams must also reference these additional regulations and guides to ensure they are able to compete safely.

For references from previous competition years see the Event Archive

Key Changes for 2027

Chemical safety is now a formal requirement. The new Chemical Safety Requirements page applies to chemicals carried or used by rovers during tasks and in CIRC Central.
Rover safety requirements are updated. Review the 2027 Rover Safety Requirements. Notable changes include illuminated kill switches, hard stops, removable lithium battery requirements, and LFP battery weighting.
New Communications rules. The 2027 Communications section now defines compatibility with a required Ethernet CIRC Backhaul for an upcoming task.
New Autonomy guidelines. The 2027 Autonomy Guidelines section adds clearer GNSS, distance, ArUco, indicator package, end effector reference, and autonomous action requirements for upcoming tasks.

General

1. TIME AND PLACE

The 2027 Canadian International Rover Challenge (CIRC Summer 2027) will commence on August 6, 2027, at the Badlands Community Facility in Drumheller, Alberta.
Task sites are not all located at CIRC Central (Badlands Community Facility). As such teams are responsible for having vehicles to transport themselves and their rover between CIRC Central and the task sites located in and around Drumheller.
Teams should arrive and register with competition organizers on Friday, August 6, between 11:00 and 17:00 MDT.
The first competition tasks will begin at approximately 21:00. CIRC Summer 2027 will conclude during the evening of August 9, 2027.
One task occurs during nighttime, so all teams and participants should be appropriately prepared.
A safety report, detailed in section 6 of the Rover Rules is due to organizers for review on June 18, 2027.
All teams must have their equipment and rovers cleared from the building before the start of the celebration barbeque.
Rescheduling of teams due to circumstances outside of the control of volunteers or event organizers will not be accommodated (i.e. inclement weather, car troubles, broken rovers, or shipping delays).
Special requests to alter the timing of an individual team’s tasks because of preferences or travel requirements will not be accommodated.
A sample high-level schedule and sample task schedule (based on an anonymized version of the 2026 schedule) is seen at the end of this section. All times are local to Drumheller, AB. Depending on the number of teams, start/end times for tasks will be adjusted closer to the event.

2. INVITATION

Entry into CIRC Summer 2027 is limited and subject to the approval of the organizing committee.
Interested teams should submit a formal expression of interest using a form available on the CIRC website (circ.cstag.ca) to be considered by November 2, 2026.
Invited teams may not take more than 25 members to CIRC Summer 2027. For questions or clarifications regarding the participant cap, please contact the CIRC organization team at [email protected].
The registration payment for invited teams is structured as follows:
1. All teams must pay a non-refundable registration fee of $600 CAD to confirm entry into the competition.
2. Teams taking more than 16 members to the event must pay an additional non-refundable fee of $150 CAD. Teams may pay this added charge at a later date following payment of the initial $600 CAD registration fee in situations where their competition rosters have not been finalized.
  1. Teams may consist of more than 16 members. This fee only applies to the number of team members attending the event in person.
  2. Both students and non-student advisors are counted towards the total number of members brought by a team.

3. VISAS AND CUSTOMS

International teams are responsible for ensuring that all team members and rover components are admissible into Canada.
Teams requiring a visa to enter Canada are responsible for applying promptly. Apply early! Consult https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/visit-canada/apply-visitor-visa.html for more information.
Teams requiring letters of invitation from CIRC must pay in advance for expedited or tracked delivery if requested.
Information regarding border crossings can be found on the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) website (http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/menu-eng.html).
If in doubt, teams should contact CBSA in advance or plan on purchasing parts in Canada before the event begins.

4. TEAM ELIGIBILITY

Competition teams consist of secondary or post-secondary students optionally accompanied by non-student advisors who may not directly participate in rover design, construction, or operation.
Teams not composed of secondary, or post-secondary students are invited to reach out to the organizers ([email protected]) to discuss options for participation.
Teams who feel their rovers are not ready are encouraged to attend and participate to test their rovers on-site and learn from other participants!
At the task judge’s discretion, teams at the event can participate in tasks even if their rover does not comply with all rules to test and debug their rover at a task site. For instance, a team could be allowed to operate using a tethered communications link. Points earned may not count towards the final rankings.

5. FACILITY USAGE

All teams are required to adhere to the CIRC Central Facility Usage Guidelines

6. VIDEO AND PHOTOGRAPHY

All participants and rovers may be photographed or recorded for use in art, promotional materials, or other purposes by the Canadian International Rover Challenge (CIRC), its organizing group: the Canadian Space Technology Advancement Group (CSTAG), or any of its sponsors.
By participating in the event, you provide the above parties with approval to capture and utilize imagery. Exceptions will not be accommodated.

7. AIRCRAFT

No aircraft may communicate with the rover or rover operators, or be used to aid completion of rover tasks.
Pilots must remain outside of the base station during competition tasks.
Any person operating an aircraft must understand and comply with all Canadian aviation regulations and local laws.
CIRC takes no responsibility for teams’ aircraft use. The Government of Canada provides an informational guideline for flying aircraft safely and legally that teams must adhere to.
Drones are not permitted at all task locations. Please consult with CIRC organizers if you wish to use a UAV to capture imagery.

8. LOGISTICS

Refer to the logistics guidelines for more information on preparing for your trip to CIRC.

Sample Schedules

Item	Day/Time
CIRC Central Opens	Friday - 11:00
Kick Off/Event Briefing	Friday - 17:00
Night Task Start	Friday - 21:00
Day Tasks Start	Saturday - 8:00
All Tasks End	Monday - 12:00
Roverlympics	Monday - 14:00
Awards Ceremony	Monday - 15:00
Clean-Up & Photos	Monday - 15:30
Celebration BBQ	Monday - 17:00

Sample Task Schedule

Rover Rules

1. MASS

Competition teams must attempt competition tasks using a single, self-contained, ground-based rover, which should have a mass below 50kg.
The rover should be transportable by two team members without the use of a wheeled cart.
Each full kilogram below 50 kg rovers weigh at the beginning of each task results in a 1% score bonus for that task; for each full kilogram above 50 kg, a 1% penalty will be applied.
Rovers weighing over 70kg will not be permitted to operate at task sites.

2. SIZE

All rovers must be able to fit into the event centre either as a single piece, or in multiple pieces through a door of 0.8 m wide.

3. TIME

Competition team rovers should be able to operate continuously for at least one hour (typical task duration) using onboard power. Tethered power connections are not permitted.
Task durations may vary between 45 and 60 minutes. Servicing of the rover or swapping batteries is permitted as a modification intervention unless otherwise stated in task rules.
At least one hour will be provided between tasks to allow teams to recharge batteries, swap subsystems, and arrive at their next task site.
Teams should design their rovers and operations equipment to be able to be set up within 15 minutes and torn down within 10 minutes. Refer to the Task Participation rules for additional details.

4. CONDITIONS

Competition team rovers must be capable of operating within the terrain and weather conditions which may naturally occur during a competition task, including rain, mud, snow, darkness, etc. Teams should be prepared to compete in heavy rain and wind.
Tasks may be postponed due to inclement weather at judge’s discretion. Judges will make a best effort to reschedule tasks.
1. If a lightning strike occurs within 25 km of a task site, the site will be shut down with reassessments every 15-30 minutes. Task sites may also be shut down due to extreme unsafe winds or other conditions that pose a severe safety hazard.
2. Judges will communicate weather updates in the relevant task channel in Discord, and it is teams’ responsibility to monitor these channels leading up to their task time.
3. If a task site cannot operate due to weather, each impacted task time will be cancelled and rescheduled on an ad-hoc basis. Rolling delays will not be used.
4. In some circumstances rescheduling of tasks may not be possible due to time constraints. In these cases, a team will receive an average of their scores for their other tasks as their task score.
A team that does not attend their scheduled task time (“no-show”), or is unable to field a rover due to safety inspection requirements, will receive 0 points for that task.
1. If a team did not pass the required safety inspection before their original scheduled task time, at judge discretion they may still be counted as a “no-show” even if their task time was cancelled due to weather conditions.
Site terrains vary between naturally compacted soil and loose ground. Some sites may include vegetation.

5. DESIGN

Rovers must be substantially designed, built, and programmed by team members. The use of complex off-the-shelf modules is discouraged.
1. For example, a purchased motor controller is acceptable while an entire purchased robotic arm is not.
Competition team rover systems must be conceptually suitable for operation on Mars.
Rover components are not required to be space-grade.
Rovers may be expected to do the following during tasks:
1. Lift, drag, or manipulate objects with a weight less than or equal to 5kg.
2. Grip objects with a width of 90mm or less.
Refer to the CIRC Rover Design Guide for more information and tips on building your rover.

6. SAFETY

The construction and operation of all rovers must comply with the CIRC Rover Safety Requirements unless an exemption has been granted.

7. COMMUNICATIONS

7.1 Definitions

Operator Link: end-to-end communication between the rover and the team’s base station operator equipment, made up of the Last-Hop and the Backhaul.
Last-Hop: the wireless link from the team’s antenna site to the rover.
Backhaul: the link between the operator equipment at the base station and the antenna site.
CIRC Backhaul: a CIRC-provided backhaul used at specified tasks.
Minimum Operating Capability: the rover can be fully controlled (driven and manipulated) and can return telemetry. Excludes video.

7.2 General

All rovers must be operated wirelessly at all times while earning an official score. Rovers should be operated through a Last-Hop link from the team’s antenna site.
From 2027, specified tasks use the CIRC Backhaul. Where a task uses it, all rover traffic must pass over it between the operator equipment and the antenna site.
Where a task does not require use of the CIRC Backhaul, teams may use any backhaul of their choice.
Rover communication systems must be stand-alone and must not rely on external services such as cell or satellite.
All rover communications systems, and their use, must comply with all applicable Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) regulations. Refer to ISED Radio Equipment Standards for more information.
Tethered connections are permitted only when a team is testing and developing its rover instead of earning an official score. Tethered operation requires the task judge’s approval and must be declared before the task begins.
Any team operating equipment in contravention of these regulations, or in a manner that maliciously interferes with other teams, will be disqualified.

7.3 Wireless Spectrum and Channel Reservations

CIRC reserves Wi-Fi channels 140, 144, 149, 153, 157, 161, and 165 in the 5 GHz band, on all polarizations, for competition infrastructure. Teams are not to operate on these channels without prior approval from the organizers; doing so may result in the affected task run being scored zero.
All other 5 GHz channels, and other ISED-permitted bands (including the amateur allocations), may be used subject to ISED regulations and the terms of any applicable licence.
CIRC Central can experience significant noise and signal levels, and CIRC will not coordinate frequency spectrum use within the facility.
The use of interference-tolerating protocols and cooperation between teams is strongly encouraged.
At task sites with multiple teams, competitors are encouraged to negotiate wireless channel allocation.

7.4 Antenna Site

One antenna site per task site is designated for team radio equipment. All equipment used to operate the rover must be set up either in the base station team area or at the antenna site.
Teams operate from a trailer or tent with no view of the operating location. Radio conditions between the base station and the task site are not guaranteed.
A CAT5e Ethernet cable and a NEMA 5-15 power extension cable are provided at the antenna site. Teams may supply and use their own cables.
When the CIRC Backhaul is not in use, the provided Ethernet cable connects directly to the base station; it is not guaranteed PoE-rated.
A simple antenna mast will be provided at the antenna site (see: Antenna Stand Assembly). Teams may substitute their own antenna mast, but its height must not exceed 4m from ground level.
Steerable antennas are permitted; they may be steered automatically or controlled remotely from the base station. Steering an antenna by hand during a task is not permitted and is treated as an intervention under the CIRC intervention rules.
Teams must not place cameras at the antenna site.

7.5 CIRC Backhaul

At specified tasks, CIRC provides the CIRC Backhaul between the base station and the antenna site, with one Team Port at each end for the team’s equipment (100BASE-TX Ethernet, untagged, no PoE).
Over the CIRC Backhaul, teams must carry at minimum the traffic needed for Minimum Operating Capability.
Video over the CIRC Backhaul is recommended, but not required.
The CIRC Backhaul behaves like an unmanaged Ethernet switch connecting the Team Port at the base station to the Team Port at the antenna site. It is isolated to the team, provides no DHCP or other services, and supports any L3 addressing, MTU 1500.
IPv4, IPv6, and ARP are guaranteed to pass. Other EtherTypes are carried on a best-effort basis.

7.6 Bandwidth Limit

There is no bandwidth limit by default; a task using the CIRC Backhaul may define one for the Operator Link.
Where a limit is defined, CIRC enforces and measures it on the CIRC Backhaul. Teams are not required to demonstrate compliance.
Teams should design so that Minimum Operating Capability is maintained within the limit.
Traffic above the limit may be dropped or shaped by CIRC equipment. Teams should not rely on bandwidth above the limit.

7.7 Analog Video and Control

Teams may use analog video and control equipment, such as analog video transmitters (NTSC/PAL composite video) and radio control (RC) systems.
The CIRC Backhaul carries Ethernet only. At tasks that use it, analog equipment must not link the rover directly to the base station.
Teams may place equipment at the antenna site to convert analog signals to Ethernet, such as a network video encoder.

8. AUTONOMY

Some tasks will have a portion of the points allocated towards completing autonomous operations.
Rovers are not required to operate autonomously.
Autonomous operation is defined as the rover fully completing a scored task requirement without any input from a rover operator.
Refer to the Autonomy Guidelines section of the rules for specific details.

Task Participation Rules

1. JUDGING

Task site judges are the final authority on task rules and procedure, and may impose penalties for flagrant or repeated violations.
Some degree of subjectivity is unavoidable as small differences may arise at each site due to the context of the individual task. Competitors are expected to act in good faith, and Judges are expected to apply rules consistently and fairly.

2. SCORING

Each competition team will be scored for each task according to a rubric available from the competition website: CIRC Summer 2027 Scoring Rubric (to come).
The lowest achievable score for each task is zero.
The competition team with the highest total score after all tasks are over and all appeals are resolved shall be declared the winner of CIRC Summer 2027.
Teams may submit a written appeal of their task score via their team Discord channel within two hours of receiving formal notification of their score for that task. The time of the Discord message will be used to verify this if the task’s head judge is unavailable at the time the appeal is sent.
1. Task scores will be released between 9 AM and 10 PM.
  1. Day task scores will typically be released within the same day, and night task scores will typically be released the next morning, but judge deliberation or other circumstances may delay score releases to the next score release window.
2. The appeal must include the following information:
  1. Identify the task.
  2. Identify which aspect(s) of the score they wish to appeal.
  3. State the team’s justification for appealing the aspect(s) of their score.
  4. Identify the team member who will be representing the team for this appeal.
  5. Tag the head judge of the task.
3. The appeal may then proceed with one of the following actions:
  1. Be accepted and the score updated.
  2. Be declined for reasons that will be provided in writing.
  3. The team representative and supporting team members may be requested to provide further details via Discord before the appeal is accepted or declined.
  4. The team representative will be called to meet the head judge of the task in person for detailed discussion before the appeal is accepted or declined.
4. The chosen course of action will be communicated to the team via their Discord channel. The team representative must remain accessible during the appeals process so that the judges can contact them. The written results at the conclusion of the appeals process will be final. No new appeals will be fielded after the two hour period.

3. SETUP

Teams may not remove equipment or rovers from vehicles until the scheduled set-up time starts.
While setting up the rover, team members who will be operating the rover may not enter the task area.
Set up time is a minimum of 15 minutes. Teams may take longer, with no points penalty. Once rovers intentionally cross the starting line at a task, set up has concluded, and task rules apply.
The end time of tasks will not be extended if teams take longer than 15 minutes to set up. (ie. any additional setup time will take away from your task time)
During the set up time, rovers must be weighed at the task site, with a judge present. Rovers should fit on the weighing platform which is 1.2m per side.
A brief site introduction by the judges may occur during set-up time.
During set-up, teams may modify their rovers as necessary to compete. No intervention penalties will be incurred.
Teams are expected to have read the applicable task rules before their scheduled task time, and to ask any questions about the task in the relevant public Discord channel prior to the task time. Judges will not answer questions about possible strategies, task rules, or scoring during task setup time.

4. TEAR DOWN

Teams will have 10 minutes after the completion of their task, to tear down and load rovers and all equipment, tools, etc. back into their vehicles.
A penalty will be incurred for teams going over the 10 minutes, at a rate of 1 point per minute.
At the judges’ discretion, a re-weighing of the rover may be requested during tear down.
Base stations must be returned to their original state.

5. BASE STATIONS

Teams will operate out of a trailer or tent that does not have line of sight to the operating location.
Teams will have access to a 120V, 60Hz, 800W power supply with a North American standard NEMA 5-15 receptacle at each task site for operating their computers, and antenna.
A location for the placement of team radio equipment at each task site will be designated. See Communications for more information.

6. SITE ACCESS

Two team members are required to accompany CIRC judges into the task area during task time. One of the team members will be asked to carry a fire extinguisher while following the rover. Additional team members may follow at a greater distance as spectators at the judge’s discretion.
Team members following the rover should maintain a 5m following distance and refrain from any action one may interpret as communication with the rover operators.
Judges have final discretion over the ability of team members to follow the rover, and may impose additional restrictions on team members approaching the rover for safety or fairness reasons based on the layout and conditions of the task site.
Rover operators must not communicate with spectators.
Team members following the rover or otherwise present at task sites must be dressed suitably for the current weather conditions. Organizers may suspend any competition activities to resolve perceived health or safety issues.
Teams may only be present at task sites during their scheduled task time, set-up time and tear down time. Teams may not spectate or scout a task before they complete it.
Teams should not arrive more than 15 minutes before their scheduled set-up time begins.
All participants must have their CIRC issued name tag on to be at the task site.
Rover operators must not use imagery captured by the team, other than imagery from a camera on the rover, to aid completion of rover tasks.

7. INTERVENTIONS

An intervention allows competition teams to repair the rover during task time, or judges to interrupt problematic behaviour.
Competition teams may not touch or interfere with the rover during a task except during an intervention.
For descriptions of the types and procedures of interventions, see the Interventions Guide.

8. COMPETITOR CONDUCT PENALTIES

Teams are required to follow the instructions given by task judges and event personnel. If instructions are not followed during the event, a penalty of up to 100% of points of their event score (i.e. the team’s total score summed from all tasks) may be deducted at the discretion of the judges or event staff.
Some tasks may involve multiple rovers operating simultaneously at the same task site. Teams must not intentionally interfere with other teams during tasks, such as blocking or damaging an opponent’s rover.
If instructions are not followed, or intentional interference occurs outside of a task, the next or previous task points for the team may be penalized at the discretion of the event organizers.
When possible, teams will be notified if they are about to receive a penalty and will be given a reasonable opportunity to comply or take corrective action. A warning is not required to occur prior to the application of a penalty.
Penalties are final and will not be overturned.

Autonomy Guidelines

Some tasks will require some autonomous operation to achieve full points.
1. All operations will have a specified margin for error supplied in the task rubric
Teams must declare when entering autonomous mode for any actions taken autonomously to receive full points.
During autonomous operation, no team member may touch the rover controls or operations computers. After doing so, no actions will be considered autonomous until autonomous operation is stopped and restarted.
1. This includes any form of input to the controls or operations computers, even if they do not affect the rover’s operation (eg. adjusting antenna steering, switching cameras, or mission planning).
2. A separate computer not controlling the rover is allowed to be used during autonomous operations for mission planning or similar tasks. This should be identified to the judge in the operations tent before the task begins.
The operators should notify the judge whenever a period of autonomous operation is ending. Otherwise, Autonomy Guideline 3 will be used.
All travel distances (specified in meters) are given as the odometer distance travelled over the actual local terrain, such as would be measured with a flexible tape measure.
For tasks requiring rovers to travel to a waypoint, the waypoint will be provided as GNSS coordinates using the WGS 84 datum in decimal degrees. Coordinates will be provided at the start of the tasks.
For the identification of objects, or interaction with objects, the waypoint or object will be designated using an Aruco machine vision marker.
1. All ArUco markers will be from the 4x4_100 dictionary. They range from marker 0 to 99.
2. Each marker will be a minimum size of 2” x 2” or 5cm x 5cm.
3. Markers will be attached to surfaces that contrast the Aruco markers.
4. For example, Marker 7 looks like the following:

For full points, the Aruco scanning software must run on the rover or base station computer and automatically output the result to a screen that the judge can see.
1. Manually identifying the markers via a lookup table or other manual methods are not accepted.
For validation that the rover has successfully completed autonomous operations, rovers must be equipped with a CIRC provided indicator package, including a ground reference and orientation reference.
1. Mechanical drawings will be published by October 30th
2. The end effector must also have a single reference mark, for measuring height above the ground, and position relative to task elements.
Examples of actions that can be completed autonomously may include, but are not limited to the list below. The exact list will be published in the task rules section.
The list is not in any order, and all tasks will have a margin for error described in the task rubric
Drive forward N meters, where N may be 1, 3, 5, or an identifier from an aruco marker
Drive backwards N meters
Store your arm and end effector to a defined home position
Raise your end effector to its maximum height above the ground
Lower your end effector to its minimum height above the ground
Open your end-effector’s gripper to at least N centimeters, where N will be at most 100mm
Close your end effector around an object, handle, or lever
Release an object you have gripped
Close your end-effector’s gripping mechanism completely
Rotate your rover by N degrees relative to its current orientation
Rotate your rover so it is facing absolute bearing XYZ (50 degrees)
Move your rover N meters in the direction M degrees clockwise from where it’s currently facing
Move your rover N meters in the bearing M, ending at orientation X
Read an Aruco marker in front of the rover and display the identifier to an operator, or remember the identifier for later
Position the end effector horizontally at a specified height above the ground and distance from the front of the rover.
Position the end effector horizontally at a specified height and position relative to the rover position reference
Position the end effector horizontally at a specified height and position relative to an aruco marker
Travel so that your rover’s position reference is within 3m of the waypoint at provided GNSS coordinates.
Travel so that your rover’s position reference is within 1m of the tower labelled with Aruco marker #3, located at approximately these GNSS coordinates.
Push the button located relative to Aruco markers #8 and #9 according to the supplied drawing
Report a GO or NO-GO decision based on a supplied formula and the value of the scanned Aruco marker.
Use the value of the scanned Aruco marker as a code or input for another part of the task.
Pick up a thing from the specified location on the ground, relative to the rover’s position reference or to an aruco marker
Put down a thing at a specified location on or above the ground, relative to the rover’s position reference or to an aruco marker
Deposit a held object into the bin directly underneath Aruco marker #4
Teams may be required to follow additional requirements for the interface(s) that activate autonomous operations, and judges may be the individuals responsible for interacting with the interface(s)
Exact interface requirements will be published with the task descriptions

Change Log

Date	Change Note
2026-09-30	Initial Publication