Your day as a competitor

Come to the registration desk first, with your whole team and your robot. The desk checks you in, confirms your team name, and tells you where your pit table is.

Before your first run, the judges inspect your robot against the rulebook: size, weight, sensors, nothing that damages the maze. A robot that fails can be fixed and inspected again. It cannot run until it passes.

Every team runs in qualifying. Every run that reaches the centre counts, a return back to the start counts one and a half, and your fastest run or return is your official time. The top teams go through to the knockout: 32, or 16 if the organisers decide on a smaller bracket. The standings page updates as runs are recorded, so you can see where you are all day.

The teams that go through are seeded by their qualifying score. First plays last, second plays second to last, and so on. Win and you go through to the next round, all the way to the quarter-finals, the semi-finals and the final. The bracket page shows every match as it is decided.

• Your robot, charged, and a spare battery
• A laptop and cable to flash firmware
• Tools for quick repairs

Only your team touches your robot. Ask a judge before you touch the maze. If you think a run was scored wrongly, tell the scoring desk straight away, before the next match starts.