Zero Robotics is a robotics programming competition where the robots are SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold Engage and Reorient Experimental Satellites) inside the International Space Station. The competition starts online, on this website, where teams program the SPHERES to solve an annual challenge. After several phases of virtual competition in a simulation environment that mimics the real SPHERES, finalists are selected to compete in a live championship aboard the ISS. An astronaut will conduct the championship competition in microgravity with a live broadcast!

The High School Tournament, for 9-12th grade students takes place from September to December each year. This is an international event open to all teams from the US and member states of the European Space Agency.

All tournaments are free of charge. All you need to do to get started is (1) find a team of 5-20 students and a mentor, (2) create an account and (3) register your team for a tournament.

The participants compete to win a technically challenging game by programming their strategies into the SPHERES satellites. The game is motivated by a current problem of interest to DARPA, NASA and MIT. Student software controls satellite speed, rotation, direction of travel, etc. Depending on the game premise, the students must program their satellites to complete game objectives (navigate obstacles, pick up virtual objects, etc.) while conserving resources (fuel, charge, etc.) and staying within specified time and code-size limits. The programs are "autonomous" - that is, the students cannot control the satellites during the test itself. Student teams begin in a series of online tournaments where top scoring teams are then selected to compete by sending their code to the SPHERES on the International Space Station!

Teams are scored based on the performance of a sphere in a virtual environment for the first phases of the tournament, and then in a real environment on board the ISS for the finals.

This competition has not yet listed it's awards.

Website: http://zerorobotics.mit.edu/

Managing Organization: MIT

Contact:

Eligibility:
Any accredited high-school (grades 9-12), Upper Secondary, or equivalent grade-school / pre-college level program, including home-schooling, in the USA, Russia, ESA member states and Australia can register a team of students; multiple high-schools can join to form a single team. The students must be ages 14-20; they cannot be in college/university or other type of post-grade-school education. Each team must be between 5-20 students; any ESA Teams beyond 10 students must describe their need for a large team in their application. All teams must have a primary mentor who is associated with the school/organization as a teacher, lecturer, or staff. The primary mentor will be responsible for supervision and guidance of the team and to ensure the team has access to at least two computers with internet access (including access to a modern internet browser [preferably Chrome or Firefox] with JavaScript and Flash enabled). Unless permissions is granted on a case-by-case basis, each high-school/organization may only have one team of 5-20 students. In the case that multiple teams are approved in a single school/organization, then (i) each team must have at least 12 students (ii) the teams must work independently of each other (iii) the teams may not be part of the same alliance (iv) teams may not exchange students at any point during the tournament. All the students in the teams must create their own Zero Robotics account and the team mentor/leader must create the complete team roster. Only the students registered in the Zero Robotics website team roster will be considered part of the team.

Registration Opens: January 1, 1970

Registration Closes: September 27, 2017

Zero Robotics is a robotics programming competition where the robots are SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold Engage and Reorient Experimental Satellites) inside the International Space Station. The competition starts online, on this website, where teams program the SPHERES to solve an annual challenge. After several phases of virtual competition in a simulation environment that mimics the real SPHERES, finalists are selected to compete in a live championship aboard the ISS. An astronaut will conduct the championship competition in microgravity with a live broadcast!

The High School Tournament, for 9-12th grade students takes place from September to December each year. This is an international event open to all teams from the US and member states of the European Space Agency.

All tournaments are free of charge. All you need to do to get started is (1) find a team of 5-20 students and a mentor, (2) create an account and (3) register your team for a tournament.

The participants compete to win a technically challenging game by programming their strategies into the SPHERES satellites. The game is motivated by a current problem of interest to DARPA, NASA and MIT. Student software controls satellite speed, rotation, direction of travel, etc. Depending on the game premise, the students must program their satellites to complete game objectives (navigate obstacles, pick up virtual objects, etc.) while conserving resources (fuel, charge, etc.) and staying within specified time and code-size limits. The programs are "autonomous" - that is, the students cannot control the satellites during the test itself. Student teams begin in a series of online tournaments where top scoring teams are then selected to compete by sending their code to the SPHERES on the International Space Station!

Teams are scored based on the performance of a sphere in a virtual environment for the first phases of the tournament, and then in a real environment on board the ISS for the finals.

This competition has not yet listed it's awards.

Website: http://zerorobotics.mit.edu/

Managing Organization: MIT

Contact:

Entry Fee:

Eligibility:
Any accredited high-school (grades 9-12), Upper Secondary, or equivalent grade-school / pre-college level program, including home-schooling, in the USA, Russia, ESA member states and Australia can register a team of students; multiple high-schools can join to form a single team. The students must be ages 14-20; they cannot be in college/university or other type of post-grade-school education. Each team must be between 5-20 students; any ESA Teams beyond 10 students must describe their need for a large team in their application. All teams must have a primary mentor who is associated with the school/organization as a teacher, lecturer, or staff. The primary mentor will be responsible for supervision and guidance of the team and to ensure the team has access to at least two computers with internet access (including access to a modern internet browser [preferably Chrome or Firefox] with JavaScript and Flash enabled). Unless permissions is granted on a case-by-case basis, each high-school/organization may only have one team of 5-20 students. In the case that multiple teams are approved in a single school/organization, then (i) each team must have at least 12 students (ii) the teams must work independently of each other (iii) the teams may not be part of the same alliance (iv) teams may not exchange students at any point during the tournament. All the students in the teams must create their own Zero Robotics account and the team mentor/leader must create the complete team roster. Only the students registered in the Zero Robotics website team roster will be considered part of the team.

Registration Opens: January 1, 1970

Registration Closes: September 27, 2017