Overview

The TurtleRescue Challenge is a fast-paced robotics competition where teams program a TurtleBot4 to explore a small indoor “disaster zone,” locate victim markers, and return safely to base with a mission report.

TurtleRescue gives students a hands-on introduction to autonomous robotics, mission design, and search-and-rescue principles using accessible tools and real-world-inspired tasks.

• Goals: Program a TurtleBot4 to explore, detect victims, and return to base.
• Duration: 2-hour session + practice time.
• Teams: Up to 4 teams per match cycle.
• Robots: 4× TurtleBot4.
• Difficulty: Introductory → intermediate.

Core Learning Objectives

Students will apply knowledge in:

• Robotics mission engineering
• Navigation, perception, reporting
• Autonomous navigation with ROS2/Nav2
• Software engineering practices
• Simulation in ROS (Gazebo/Ignition)

Objectives and Score

Each team’s robot must autonomously:

1. Start at the base station
2. Map the unknown arena (SLAM)
3. Locate victims
4. Record their positions
5. Return to base
6. Deliver a final “Mission Report”

Victims can be:

• AprilTags
• Printed images/markers

Scoring is based on detections, area explored, and time (tiebreaker).

Rules

Time

• Teams must submit a simulation before RoME’26
• Total match duration: 25 minutes per team

Allowed Resources

• TurtleBot4 Lite
• ROS2 Humble/Iron
• Custom software

Prohibited

• Teleoperation
• External sensors
• Altering the arena

Requirements

Teams must submit as a GitHub repository the following content:

• ROS2 workspace
• Launch files
• A README covering:
  1. The team name with a members list
  2. A description of the mission strategy
  3. A description of the perception pipeline
  4. The exploration algorithm
  5. A description of the safety considerations

ROS 2 Tutorial and Mission Example

We provide the link for the instructions to install ROS 2 here

We provide the link for a robotic mission example here