1Jacky Baltes, 2Karla Anhel Camarillo Gomez, 3Meng-Cheng Lau and 4Kuo-Yang Tu

1Educational Robotics Center

Department of Electrical Engineering

National Taiwan Normal University

Taipei, 10610, Taiwan

jacky.baltes@ntnu.edu.tw

2Departament of Mechanical Engineering

Robotics and Biomechanical Systems

Tecnológico Nacional de México en Celaya

Celaya, Guanajuato, 38010, Mexico

karla.camarillo@itcelaya.edu.mx

3School of Engineering and Computer Science

Laurentian University

Sudbury, ON P3E 2C6, Canada

mclau@laurentian.ca

4Graduate Program in

Intelligent Automation Systems

Department  of Electrical Engineering

National Kaohsiung University of Science & Technology

Kaohsiung, 811, Taiwan

tuky@nkust.edu.tw

Abstract

The following rules and regulations govern the marathon event of HuroCup, a robotic game and robotics benchmark problem for humanoid robots.

Latest Version of the Rules for HuroCup

The latest official version of the rules of the game for HuroCup is always available from the HuroCup Facebook Page.

Changes to the Marathon rules of HuroCup

In 2026, the Marathon event has been updated to further reduce reliance on ground markings and to emphasize robust perception and navigation capabilities suitable for real-world environments. All coloured ground lines are removed from the event entirely. Navigation is now guided exclusively by visual markers.

The length of the track remains 421.95 m, representing approximately 1/100th of a human marathon distance. The marathon continues to be held primarily outdoors, with irregular lighting conditions, uneven surfaces, and gaps in the track to test long-term autonomy, robustness, and endurance.

Some sections of the Marathon course may be designated as Pro League only (using arrow markers), reflecting increased difficulty and navigation complexity.

Marathon

Similar to the human marathon run, the HuroCup Marathon aims to test the robustness and endurance of humanoid robots. The task is for the robot to navigate the Marathon course as quickly as possible by following visual markers that indicate forward motion and turns. The event no longer relies on any visible ground track or coloured lines.

HuroCup Marathon - Laws of the Game

The following laws describe the specifics of the marathon event. For general specifications relevant to all HuroCup events (e.g., robot dimensions, playing field and lighting, the responsibility of the referees). Please refer to General - HuroCup Laws of the Game.

[MR-1]: Field of Play

[MR-1.1]: The track for the marathon event is relatively smooth and does not contain any spot with a height difference of more than 20mm.

[MR-1.2]: There are no coloured lines or painted markings on the ground used for navigation in the Marathon event.

[MR-1.3]: The total length of the Marathon track is denoted by $L

[MR-1.4]: The track does not include corners with an angle greater than 90 degrees or turns with a turn radius of less than 1 meter.

[MR-1.5]: The centre line does not contain any intersections.

[MR-1.6]: The minimum distance between points on the track that belong to different segments is at least 1 meter.

[MR-1.7]: The track may contain several gaps with no continuous visual guidance. Each gap is less than $B long.

[MR-1.8]: Navigation Markers

At gaps and navigation points, the continuation of the track is indicated only by visual markers. No coloured ground markings are used.

Pro League

• Navigation uses a combination of:

• AprilTag markers (family 36h11): A total of three distinct AprilTags are selected and used in the event
• Directional arrow markers (forward, left, right)

• Arrow markers indicate turns of up to 90 degrees.
• Markers are black on a white background or white on a black background.
• Marker size is approximately 10 cm × 10 cm.

Junior and U19 Leagues

• Navigation uses AprilTag markers only (arrow-based markers are not used)
• AprilTag family and size are the same as used in the Pro League unless otherwise specified
  

Some sections of the Marathon course may be restricted to Pro League robots only, due to increased navigation or environmental difficulty.

A forward marker is shown in Marathon Marker and Plan. A sample marathon track is shown in Marathon Marker and Plan.

Sample images for the markers are available Marker Forward, Marker Right, and Marker Left. Note that the actual competition markers may be different in size, colour, or shape.

[MR-1.9]: Circumstances permitting, the marathon will be held outdoors during daylight hours. Robots must be able to compensate for varying lighting conditions, heat or cold, rain puddles, and uneven pavement.

[MR-2]: Number of Robots

[MR-2.1]: A single robot competes in a match.

[MR-3]: The Players

[MR-3.1]: Please refer to General - HuroCup Laws of the Game for detailed information about the players.

[MR-4]: The Referee

[MR-4.1]: Please refer to General - HuroCup Laws of the Game for detailed information about the referee and his or her duties.

[MR-5]: The Assistant Referee

[MR-5.1]: Please refer to General - HuroCup Laws of the Game for detailed information about the assistant referee and his or her duties.

[MR-6]: Game Play

Robots are usually assigned start numbers roughly based on their performance in the sprint event. Faster robots are given lower start numbers and will thus start earlier than slower robots to minimize interference. The race commences with a staggered start of 3 minute intervals, that is the robot with start number n will start 3 minutes after the robot with start number n-1.

[MR-6.1]: The start of a run for a robot is signalled by the referee blowing the whistle. After the referee blows the whistle, the robot will start to walk towards the finish line.

[MR-6.2]: Each robot may have at most one human handler associated with it.

[MR-6.3]: The human handlers are not allowed to interfere in any way with other robots, the referee, or other human handlers.

[MR-6.4]: A human handler may only enter the playing field or touch his/her robot with the permission of the referee.

[MR-6.5]: The handler and all other team members must not interfere with the environment at any time. For example, removing items that are similarly coloured to the track, casting shadows on the track, or changing the slope of the track are forbidden.

[MR-6.6]: The handler and all other team members must not interfere with the spectators at any time. Removing or blocking of spectators is forbidden.

[MR-6.7]: A robot finishes the race by completely crossing the finished plane with both feet. The finished plane is the plane which intersects the playing field at a 90-degree angle at the back of the finish line. The handler shall remove his/her robot as soon as possible after it has crossed the finish line to reduce interference with other robots.

[MR-6.8]: The end of the competition is signalled by the referee by blowing the whistle a second time. The referee terminates the competition if

1. either the maximum duration of the competition (1 hour) has elapsed,
2. or all robots have crossed the finish line,
3. or no more active robots remain in the competition.

[MR-6.9]: If the distance between two robots is less than 50cm because a faster robot is catching up to a slower robot, then the referee will instruct the handler of the slower robot to remove his or her robot and continue the race at a place indicated by the referee. The referee will indicate a place approximately 1 meter behind the faster robot.

[MR-6.10]: Apart from MR-6.7, a robot is not allowed to interfere with another robot in any way. In case of multiple robots interfering with each other, the right of way goes to the faster robot.

[MR-7]: Fouls and Misconduct

[MR-7.1]: A robot is not allowed to leave the track. A robot is considered to have left the track if it clearly deviates from the intended path defined by the sequence of navigation markers, such that it is no longer progressing toward the next valid marker or the finish area. The referee’s decision is based on the observable intent of motion, not on instantaneous position relative to a marker.

[MR-7.2]: The robot handler is not allowed to touch the robot. However, in case of a failure or malfunction of the robot, the robot's handler may, after having been penalized for this infraction, request permission from the referee to fix his robot. After having received permission from the referee, the helper may fix the robot. Please refer to the special laws regarding the batteries of the robot.

[MR-7.3]: Notwithstanding MR-7.3, a handler is not allowed to change the batteries during the competition. Changing the batteries will lead to immediate disqualification of the team.

[MR-7.4]: Notwithstanding  MR-7.3, a handler is not allowed to connect a power cable to the robot or any other device that can be used to charge batteries.

[MR-7.5]: Any infractions as listed by the general HuroCup laws as far as they are applicable in this event.

[MR-7.6]: Any team that commits one of the infractions listed in Fouls and Misconducts will be penalized by a 5m push back by the referee. The robot must be placed 5m back towards the start line along the track. If the robot is less than 5m ahead of the start line, the robot shall be placed behind the start line. This is subject to laws MR-6.3 and MR-6.4.

[MR-8]: Method of Scoring

[MR-8.1]: All robots that have not covered a maximum path distance of at least 30m along the track are automatically awarded no rank and 0 points.

[MR-8.2]: Among the robots that have covered more than 30m, the robots are ranked (i.e., 1st place, 2nd place) based on the maximum distance along the path. Robots that have completed the course successfully are given a path distance of $L.

[MR-8.3]: For more details about the point allocation, please refer to Point Allocation [Organization - HuroCup Laws of the Game].

[MR-9]: Tiebreaker

[MR-9.1]: In case two or more robots have the same maximum path distance within a single round, the robots will be ranked based on the faster time to reach the maximum path distance.

[MR-9.2]: In case two or more robots have the same number of points after all marathon rounds, the robot with the better sum of maximum path distances and times over all rounds will be declared the winner.

[MR-9.3]: In case two or more robots are still tied after applying the previous tiebreaker, the best performance (maximum path distance and time)  in a single round will be used as tie breaker.

Official World Records

This section contains the list of official world records for the HuroCup Robot marathon competition first introduced in the 2007 WorldCup competition.

Kid Size

Adult Size

Junior

Appendix Marathon Markers

Marker Forward

Marker Right

Marker Left