1
Rulebook
Description and objective, team composition, format and progression, run structure and timings, permitted and prohibited actions, penalties, appeals, and definitions.
Events / Terra Incognita
The Doon School · 08–10 December 2026
Terra Incognita
The positions of the inner square, the fixed obstacles and the movable object are not revealed before the run, and no prior map is permitted. The grid map alone carries 60 of the 100 points.
SLAM: Autonomous Mapping and Pathfinding
Map ground you have never seen, then find your way home.
Surveying · obstacles resolve as they are found
Rules
How it runs
- A SLAM-based challenge: the robot autonomously explores and maps an unknown 3 m × 3 m arena. In its official run it must generate a grid map of the arena cell by cell, identify the movable object and push it into the target green spot, and take a full round of the arena, finishing as close as possible to the starting position.
- Each team receives 2 minutes of preparation and one official run of at most 5 minutes. The run begins when the team starts the robot with its physical start switch and the event official confirms it.
- The robot must operate fully autonomously: no manual driving, no movement commands and no directing the robot through the arena. A team may physically intervene to correct a failure, up to 5 touches per run, but never to navigate or reposition the robot. A sixth touch disqualifies the run.
- The movable object, a 20 cm blue cube, may only be pushed. Lifting or grabbing it is not allowed.
- After the run, the team shows the grid map on the organisers’ HDMI monitor within 2 minutes, using its own cables and adapters. The map must be the one generated during the run, not edited, regenerated or reprocessed, and is checked cell by cell against the organisers’ reference map.
- All computation, including SLAM, localisation, mapping and navigation, must run onboard the robot. Wi-Fi or Bluetooth may only send non-control information, such as the map, to the team’s own laptop. Any type of LIDAR is prohibited.
- Each team submits a link to one repository holding the source code of everything that runs on its robot, with a README at the top level, by the announced deadline. Each team member must be able to explain the code entirely.
- Phones are not permitted at all. No internet access is provided, and a team caught using the internet or a hotspot is disqualified at once.
Event details
- Discipline
- Robotics
- Participants
- 2 per school
- Control
- Fully autonomous
- Event head
- Trijat Shah
- Deputies
- Aaryansh Kejriwal, Arnav Kejriwal
- Sensors permitted
- All sensor types, safely integrated: cameras, depth and RGB-D cameras, ultrasonic, IR, wheel encoders, IMUs, optical and time-of-flight
- Barred
- Any type of LIDAR · movement or navigation commands · off-board computation
Judging
- Grid map: 60 × (correct wall cells − falsely marked wall cells) ÷ wall cells in the reference map
- Return to the starting position: teams ranked by final distance, 15 points for first, one fewer per rank
- Movable object: 10 if fully inside the target green spot, 5 if only its centre is inside
- Repository: 15 points for timeliness, README, source code and no stored map
- 2 points deducted per wall contact; damaging the arena disqualifies the run
- Ties: higher grid map points, then higher repository points, then the shorter official run time
Judging rubric
How the marks fall
| Criterion | Weight | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| Grid map | 60 | |
| Return to the starting position | 15 | |
| Movable object | 10 | |
| Repository | 15 | |
| Total | 100 |
Weights are those in the event’s published documents. Scoring levels, tie-break order and who scores what are set out in full in the document pack below.
Documents
The Terra Incognita pack
5 of 6 documents available
These are the documents your team will receive for Terra Incognita. Between them they set out everything a team needs in order to prepare.
2
Robot Specification
Dimensions at start and expanded, mass, power source and voltage limits, permitted actuators and sensors, control method, communication protocol, prohibited materials.
3
Arena Specification
A dimensioned scale drawing in plan view, all fixed dimensions with tolerances, surface material and finish, wall heights, printable colour references, and the exact range of any variation between rounds.
A school must be able to build a practice replica from this document alone.
4
Judging Rubric
Criteria with point values summing to a stated total, scoring levels, tie-break order, who scores what, and when scores are published.
5
Inspection & Safety
Pre-competition inspection checklist and schedule, consequences of failed inspection, safety requirements during runs, spectator boundaries, and the emergency stop procedure.
6
Support Material
A worked example, a starter guide to core techniques, the concepts a team should learn, common mistakes, and an FAQ.
Documents marked “Available soon” will appear here as soon as they are released.
Flow
How Terra Incognita works, step by step
The event from start to finish, as the rules above set it out. The detailed documents for Terra Incognita will appear here once they are released to registered schools.
-
Inspection: size, battery, start switch, no LIDAR, code, centre mark, map display
-
2-minute preparation period
-
Official run starts on the robot’s start switch
One run of at most 5 minutes, fully autonomous. Up to 5 touches to correct a failure, never to navigate.
-
Explore and map the arena cell by cell
All processing onboard. No LIDAR, no prior map.
-
Push the movable object into the target green spot
Pushing only: no lifting or grabbing.
-
Take a full round and finish at the starting position
Final distance measured from the centre mark to the centre of the X.
-
Show the grid map on the HDMI monitor within 2 minutes
Checked cell by cell against the reference map.
-
Scored: grid map 60, return 15, object 10, repository 15
Who runs it
The people behind Terra Incognita
Trijat Shah
Event Head
Trijat is a Grade 11 student at The Doon School pursuing the ISC curriculum, with academic interests in History, the Sciences and Mathematics, alongside a wide range of skills in robotics and AI. Beyond the classroom his heart lies on the field, with football, hockey and athletics taking most of it, and he is a keen long-distance runner. He also enjoys watching and analysing football, with Manchester City taking most of his screen time, and is drawn to endurance pursuits like mountain biking and trekking. After four years in the Robotics activity, he is honoured to serve as an Event Head at the IPSC IT Fest.
Deputy Event Heads
Aaryansh Kejriwal
Arnav Kejriwal
Next
Half-Life
Autonomous robots follow a line track to sort 8 red, blue and green objects into the bins of the same colour, then park. The mix of colours changes each round, and is the same for every team.