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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
Lift, drag, or manipulate objects with a weight less than or equal to 5kg.
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.
Task scores will be released between 9 AM and 10 PM.
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.
The appeal must include the following information:
Identify the task.
Identify which aspect(s) of the score they wish to appeal.
State the team’s justification for appealing the aspect(s) of their score.
Identify the team member who will be representing the team for this appeal.
Tag the head judge of the task.
The appeal may then proceed with one of the following actions:
Be accepted and the score updated.
Be declined for reasons that will be provided in writing.
The team representative and supporting team members may be requested to provide further details via Discord before the appeal is accepted or declined.
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.
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.
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.