[CFP] League of Robot Runners, 2026 Edition! 🏁📦

[Chen Zhe]

The League of Robot Runners (LoRR, www.leagueofrobotrunners.org) is a global competition series tackling one of the hardest problems in logistics automation: coordinating large teams of robots under real-world uncertainty. 

Sponsored by Amazon Robotics and co-hosted with AAMAS 2026 , LoRR bridges academia and industry by focusing on core combinatorial challenges in multi-robot coordination. Related formulations appear in the literature as Multi-Agent Path Finding (MAPF), Multi-Robot Path Planning (MRPP), and multi-agent coordination.

In LoRR, simulated robots operate in dynamic logistics environments and must continuously complete incoming tasks. Depending on the track, participants design task schedulers, path planners, and execution policies that remain robust under stochastic delays. The goal is to complete as many tasks as possible before time runs out!

Participation is open to teams and individuals worldwide. We welcome all technical approaches, including:

• AI planning and algorithm design

• Combinatorial search and optimization

• Machine learning and reinforcement learning

• Mathematical programming and operations research

• Robust/stochastic optimization and control

• Hybrid and domain-specific methods

New for 2026: Uncertainty-Aware Robot Coordination

Building on the 2024/5 season (1,513 submissions from 50 teams! ), the 2026 edition introduces explicit execution uncertainty through delay probabilities. Robots may fail to execute planned moves on time due to simulated mechanical issues or communication delays. Success now depends not only on path quality but also on robust execution policies that keep fleets efficient amid disruptions.

---

Competition Tracks and Prizes

Execution Track

• We provide the task scheduler and path planner.

• You design an execution policy that handles delays.

• First Prize: USD 2,500

• Second Prize: USD 500

• Third Prize: Distinguished Performance Award

Task Scheduling Track

• You assign tasks to robots.

• We provide the path planner and execution policy.

• Your scheduler must account for execution uncertainty.

• First Prize: USD 2,500

• Second Prize: USD 500

• Third Prize: Distinguished Performance Award

Combined Track

• You assign tasks, plan paths, and control execution.

• Full control in the most challenging stochastic setting.

• First Prize (Grand Prize): USD 5,000

• Second Prize: USD 1,000

• Third Prize: USD 500

Additional Awards

• AAMAS Prize (Combined Track): USD 1,000 for the top combined-track entry submitted by May 22, 2026 (AOE, UTC-12)

• Line Honours Prize: USD 1,000 for the team with the largest number of best-known solutions at competition end

• Certificates for other notable performances

---

Submission Process

Participants register on the LoRR platform and submit solvers through the official evaluation pipeline. Submissions are automatically built and evaluated, with progress tracked on the live leaderboard. Submissions are accepted throughout the competition window.

We provide starter code, documentation, examples, validators, and visualization tools. After the competition, top submissions and problem instances will be open-sourced for community use.

Tools and Resources

Start-Kit v3.1.0: 

• Full support for the new Execution component and runtime delay generation. 

• Added configurable action counters and multistep planner communication. Stability, validation, and usability improvements for main round submissions, plus new main-round example instances.

PlanViz v3.1.0: 

• The visualizer fully supports 2026 tick-based simulation. 

• We improved rendering performance for massive simulations.

---

Important Dates (AOE, UTC-12)

• Jan 2026: Competition announcement

• 18 Mar 2026: Start-Kit release and test round opens

• 14 Apr 2026: Main round begins

• 22 May 2026: AAMAS Prize deadline (Combined Track special award)

• AAMAS 2026: AAMAS Prize announcement

• 22 Jul 2026: Competition finish line

• 7 Aug 2026: All tracks' results announcement

Competition Chairs

• Daniel Harabor (Monash University)

• Sven Koenig (University of California, Irvine)

• Cathy Wu (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

• Jingjin Yu (Rutgers University)

---

 Links:

• For details, registration, and updates: www.leagueofrobotrunners.org

• For community discussion: Join our Discord!

We look forward to your participation in LoRR 2026!