The GENIUS Robotics Olympiad continues to inspire innovation and creative problem-solving by engaging students in the world of engineering and robotics. In 2025, the competition’s theme, Genie Restorator, challenges teams of young engineers to design, build, test, and control robots that will address real-world environmental issues. Students will dive deep into the problem of land restoration after a natural disaster, where they must clean up debris, sort recyclables, and plant trees, all through their custom-built robots.
The Genie Restorator mission gives students a unique opportunity to blend engineering with environmentalism. The challenge focuses on developing robots that can perform multiple tasks, from cleaning debris to planting trees, all while adhering to the rules of the competition. This year’s event encourages students to harness their skills in problem-solving, teamwork, and research to find novel solutions to pressing environmental concerns.
What is the Genie Restorator Challenge?
In the Genie Restorator competition, teams of up to three students will compete to restore land affected by a natural disaster. The task involves cleaning debris, recycling items, and reforesting a section of land in a shared environment. The field is divided into multiple subfields, where each team must perform specific tasks to score points.
The main objective is to create a robot that can:
- Collect and remove debris (represented by tennis balls).
- Sort and transport recycled items (wooden cubes of different colors).
- Transport and plant trees (water bottles) in a designated planting area.
The robot will be required to complete these tasks efficiently, with a time limit of three minutes for each round.
Robot Categories
The GENIUS Robotics 2025 competition is divided into two categories based on robot power and kit capabilities:
- Small Robot Category: This includes robots built using kits like LEGO, VEX IQ, or any similar motor-powered kits.
- Large Robot Category: This category includes robots built using more advanced kits like TETRIX, VEX VEX-V5, or VEX Pro, and other similar kits with motor power not exceeding 12V.
Teams wishing to use a robot kit not listed here must contact the GENIUS Robotics Committee for approval. The robot will be classified into one of the two categories based on its hardware specifications.
Mission Details
The Genie Restorator mission consists of three primary tasks that the robot must perform in order to restore the land and achieve maximum points. Here are the details of each task:
1. Collecting Debris (Tennis Balls)
The first task involves clearing debris from the affected land. The Genie Restorator robot will need to pick up tennis balls scattered across the land and transport them to a designated bin outside of the field. Robots can collect multiple tennis balls at once, but they are not allowed to enter the loading deck during this task. If tennis balls are dropped in the farmlands, the robot may return to collect them again.
2. Recycling (Wooden Cubes)
The second task is to collect and sort recyclable items—two types of wooden cubes (blue and red)—from the affected area. Each robot will need to transport these cubes to their designated recycling bins in their respective subfields. Robots are only allowed to carry one type of cube at a time and must place each cube into the corresponding bin. If the robot knocks over the recycling bin, it will be considered damaged and unusable for the remainder of the round.
3. Planting Trees (Water Bottles)
The final task is to plant trees by transporting 0.5-liter water bottles from the tree nursery to the planting area. This task can only be completed once the first two tasks—removing debris and recycling—are finished. Robots can carry and plant multiple trees at once, but they must ensure that the trees are placed standing in the designated planting area.
Task Order and Restrictions
- Task Order: The tree planting task (Task 3) can only be completed after the debris removal (Task 1) and recycling (Task 2) tasks are finished.
- Movement Restrictions: Robots are not allowed to cross the boundaries of their designated subfield, although they may enter the shared affected land zone. Robots must start from the robot lot and can only be modified (e.g., adding attachments or changing code) within this designated area during the competition rounds.
Field Layout
The competition field is divided into two identical subfields separated by blue and red lines, each representing a team’s designated area. The shared affected land zone is where debris and recyclable items will be located. The tree nursery will be located at each subfield, containing five trees (water bottles) for planting.
Here’s the layout of the field:
- Tennis Balls (Debris): Randomly distributed in the shared affected land zone.
- Wooden Cubes (Recycling Items): Blue and red cubes will be randomly placed in the shared affected land zone.
- Tree Nursery: Located at each subfield, with 5 trees (water bottles) for transport and planting.
- Planting Area: Marked with green tape for tree planting once the previous tasks are completed.
Scoring
The Genie Restorator challenge is scored based on the successful completion of the following tasks:
- Debris Collection: Points are awarded for each tennis ball collected and placed in the designated bin.
- Recycling: Points are awarded for each correctly placed cube in the recycling bin.
- Tree Planting: Points are awarded for each tree placed in the planting area.
The total score for each team will depend on the accuracy and efficiency with which they complete these tasks within the three-minute time limit.
Competition Rules and Guidelines
- Team Composition: Each team can consist of up to three students, with each student only being part of one team.
- One Robot per Team: Each team must build and compete with one robot, which cannot be shared among multiple teams.
- Interference During Rounds: Teams are allowed to make changes to their robot only within the robot lot between rounds. No interference is allowed during the competition rounds.
- Robot Kit Approval: Any robot kit not listed in the allowed categories must be approved by the GENIUS Robotics Committee before the competition.
What to Expect at the Competition
The GENIUS Robotics event promises to be an exciting, fast-paced challenge where students can showcase their engineering skills and creativity. During the competition, students can expect:
- Multiple Rounds: Teams will participate in at least three rounds, and each round may take place in a different field.
- Time Limits: Each team has three minutes per round to complete their tasks and maximize their score.
- Robot Modifications: Teams can modify their robots between rounds in the designated robot lot, but no modifications are allowed during active rounds.
Judging Criteria
Judges will evaluate each team’s robot based on the following criteria:
- Robot Design: Innovation and efficiency of the robot’s design in completing the tasks.
- Task Performance: Success in completing each task, including debris collection, recycling, and tree planting.
- Teamwork: How effectively the team collaborates to design, build, and test the robot.
- Programming: The quality and complexity of the programming that controls the robot.
- Time Efficiency: The robot’s ability to complete tasks within the three-minute time limit.
