The Garrins Metàl·lics team participates in the Eurobot competition, held in Alcalá de Henares, which represents the national phase of an international robotics tournament. If the team wins, it advances to the grand international final in France. In this event, teams must design, build, and program a completely autonomous robot capable of overcoming a series of thematic challenges that change every edition.

The Eurobot 2026 challenge is titled ‘Winter is Coming’ and revolves around a world where squirrels must retrieve their acorn reserves before winter sets in. The robots must help them achieve this, overcoming specific tasks within a limited time.

During the match, autonomous robots must retrieve acorn boxes gathered by humans and place them in safe locations, such as pantries or nests. Taking advantage of the humans’ coffee break, the squirrels have only a few seconds to act. The robots must move across the terrain, identify the boxes, transport them, and distribute them strategically to ensure survival during the winter. Each action earns points, and the route must be optimized to score as many as possible.

Mission Sub-challenges

In addition to basic collection, we must tackle several sub-challenges that put our precision and mechanics to the test.

One of the most visual tasks is managing the temperature of the stores. The robot must move a temperature slider to the center of a thermometer located at the front of the field. The closer it stops to the center, the more points are awarded—simulating that the acorns are preserved in optimal conditions all winter long.

Another key sub-challenge is pantry management and zone bonuses. Simply depositing the boxes is not enough; to earn the ‘zone bonus,’ a team must hold the majority of boxes of their color in a specific pantry at the end of the match. This adds a strategic layer, as the robot must not only collect items but also ensure the correct colored face remains visible for scoring validation.

Finally, we have the SIMA feeding time sub-challenge. These small mobile units have a special mission: reach the pantries and trigger an actuator visible to the audience to signal that the squirrels are feeding. If all the team’s SIMAS successfully complete this action before time runs out, an additional 10-point bonus is awarded.