The Can-Do Challenge! (February 2026)

[Alan Timm]

Hey there!  Thanks to Jim Ubersetzig (thanks Jim!)  We have a contest on the calendar for February 2026!

https://www.rssc.org/can-do-challenge.html

I've taken the liberty of filling in some of the blanks for the contest rules, please let me know if you see anything that needs to be changed or you'd like to see added.  We'll aim to get the rules finalized over the next week or two.

We have a handful of club members with hardware ready to accept the challenge, and I can't wait to see the results!

Can-Do Challenge

The Autonomous Coca-Cola Can Retrieval Competition

Contest Overview
Robots must autonomously locate, navigate to, and pick up a standard 12 oz Coca-Cola can.

Arena Specifications
You may participate in the contest in any one of three available areas:

• On the carpet in the meeting room
• On a desk in the meeting room
• On the linoleum tiling in the hallway outside the meeting room

Robot Requirements

• Autonomy: Must operate autonomously at the start of each contest run.  (no remote control during run)
• Safety: No projectiles, flames, or hazardous materials

The Can

• Standard empty or unopened 12 oz (355ml) Coca-Cola can
• Positioned upright on its base

Scoring System (100 points maximum)
Primary Objectives:

• Can Located: 25 points (robot gripper must approach within 6 inches)
• Can Grasped: 25 points
• Can lifted off the ground: 25 points

Time Bonuses:

• Complete in under 60 seconds: +15 points
• Complete in under 45 seconds: +20 points
• Complete in under 30 seconds: +25 points

Penalties:

• Can knocked over before grasping: -20 points
• Can dropped during transport: -30 points (can reattempt pickup)
• Can crushed/damaged: -50 points

Rules & Procedures
Match Format:

• Each entry gets 3 attempts (best score counts)
• 2-minute time limit per attempt
• 1-minute setup time between attempts

Starting Procedure:

• Robot placed in starting zone not facing the can
• Can placed randomly by judges
• Contestant activates behavior and steps back
• Timer begins when robot moves

Run Ends When:​

• 2-minute time limit expires
• Robot becomes immobilized for 20+ seconds
• Contestant declares forfeit
• Safety violation occurs

Autonomy Requirements:

• No human intervention once robot starts
• Pre-programmed behaviors and sensor-based reactions only
• No external guidance systems (e.g., ceiling-mounted cameras)
• Robot must use onboard sensors for navigation

Safety Rules:

• Judges may stop any robot for safety concerns
• Arena must be cleared before each run
• Spectators must remain behind designated lines

Tiebreaker Protocol

• If entries tie on points:
• Fastest completion time
• Fewest penalties
• Sudden death round with can placed in more difficult position

Suggested Categories (Optional)

• Open Class: Any design approach
• Beginner Class: Additional constraints (e.g., cost limit, pre-built kit requirement)
• Innovation Award: Most creative solution
• Robust Design: Best average score across all 3 attempts

[Thomas Messerschmidt]

I would like to donate some prizes for the contest. 

Thomas Messerschmidt

-  

Need something prototyped, built or coded? I’ve been building prototypes for companies for 15 years. I am now incorporating generative AI into products.

Contact me directly or through LinkedIn:   

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ai-robotics/

On Nov 23, 2025, at 7:28 PM, Alan Timm <gest...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey there!  Thanks to Jim Ubersetzig (thanks Jim!)  We have a contest on the calendar for February 2026!

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[Alan Timm]

Here is a detailed usd model of a coke can.  Depending on your approach, it could come in handy?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jSS0l4X07ExPOhLadpv_t7O3bgPdUozn/view?usp=sharing

And Thomas, thank you so much for donating some prizes to the contest!  That's great!

Alan

[Alan Timm]

Hey hey fellow Can-Do Challengers!

How's everyone doing?  

I picked up a few rolls of rubber grip tape, and I'd be happy to share with anyone else that can make use of it.

I'll bring it to the club meeting in January for anyone else who can make use of it.

It's 0.8" wide diamond pattern rubber grip tape.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FKGF8873

On Sunday, November 23, 2025 at 7:28:54 PM UTC-8 Alan Timm wrote:

[Carl]

A couple questions on the rules:

In the penalties section it says: "Can dropped during transport: -30 points (can reattempt pickup)", but I think we are just lifting the can?

How far away from the robot will the can be?

Will we be sure there is nothing else in range that would confuse the robot?  For those of us with simple sensors :-)

[Alan Timm]

Hey Carl,

All great questions.  I was supposed to strip out everything from the rules except pick up the can.  I'll take care of that shortly.

The can can be placed anywhere radially between 1 and 3 feet away from the robot in any direction.

Brian also asked about anything else in range.  We'll arrange so that there's nothing else in the 6 foot circle for this version of the contest.

Alan

[Alan Timm]

Hey there fellow Can-Do Challengers!

How is everyone coming along?  We're a week out from the contest, and I'm really excited to see everyone's approach to solving the problem.

So alfie's...  uh, well...  he's trying.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qRJgmb0J5lY

the open loop eval shows that the fine tuned model has a strong correspondence with reference actions in the training data but there's still some things to fix in the client server code I think.

[Brian Erickson]

It's great seeing everyone's progress and unique solutions for the Can-Do challenge. I enjoy these contests. They are great motivators with real deadlines to get something done.

We should start thinking about the next challenge.  A good contest would:

- Add onto the building and learning we've already done

- Be a little harder, but not too hard

- Provide for unique and varied solutions

- Be achievable in a few months

Here are a few ideas to ponder.

Stacking - There are multiple cans in the arena, your robot finds them and stacks them. Points awarded for tallest, most stacked, etc. We could substitute blocks for cans to make it easier

Transporting - Again, several cans, but you need to get them into a taped off goal area. To make it harder, the goal area could be barely big enough to fit the allotted cans.

Instruction Following - This would be to encourage AI and vision solutions, we give instructions to the robots right at the start of the contest. "Put the red cans into the circle", etc. "Knock over all of the diet soda cans". "Arrange the cans into groups of three". The robots will need to understand and follow directions. Directions could be spoken, typed, or read from cue cards.

I would love to hear other's ideas, especially the contestants participating in this month's challenge.

Brian

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[Carl]

I was looking at the RSSC YouTube channel, and there are videos of the Can contest 12 years ago with some of the same robots! :-)  https://www.youtube.com/@RSSCRobotics/videos

[Dani Coles]

Hello All, 

Here are some videos (with the correct link this time, sorry) of some of the robots from Saturday's Can Do Challenge!

What a lot of fun that was!

(sorry Jim U, I didn't get a video of your robot!)

Bob's Robot:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/mdinq7r9kk8z2yvttk8l7/Bob-s-Robot.MOV?rlkey=bvutf4mwrbe7iv6nko2kx0v4f&st=tvwfaxmg&dl=0

Brian's Robot:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/38adioquh4kv04r3jntwg/Brian-s-Robot.MOV?rlkey=66z2w5438pyifsioxdjp0q0jg&st=8luf7jn7&dl=0

Carl's Robot (one of them):

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/401mni9pzm4pblj28z6je/Carl-s-Robot.MOV?rlkey=qx49euu4abh3wenq044ubyh7l&st=j7ovo6wx&dl=0

Jim D's Robot:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/mdlbaf8wmljxmlb1izqk2/Jim-s-Robot.MOV?rlkey=90qcuk1vuqt1zq1z1ivsao2x4&st=woudh93g&dl=0

Team MJ and Prof. Ben's Robot:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/izamahqblmn2kw8thrzgx/MJ-and-Ben-s-Robot.MOV?rlkey=8n62ejfbwxftztikzse4k6a8n&st=e7cd7eaj&dl=0

Dani

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