A community robotics competition where teams build autonomous line-following robots to navigate a maze, reach the destination and return

About this event

Micromouse Mayhem 2027 is a community robotics competition hosted by Maidstone Hackspace CIC.

Teams will design, build and programme a small autonomous line-following robot to navigate an unknown maze, find the destination, and return to the start as quickly as possible.

The competition is open to everyone, whether you are a complete beginner, a student, a young person, a family team, a Scout group, a school team, a Hackspace member, a hobbyist, a programmer, an engineer, or simply curious about robotics.

This is intended to be a friendly, hands-on and accessible robotics challenge that rewards not only speed, but also creativity, problem-solving, teamwork, good design and perseverance.

The challenge

Each team enters one autonomous robot.

The robot must follow a black line maze made from modular white tiles. The maze has no walls. It may include:

straight sections;

90-degree turns;

T-junctions;

cross-junctions;

dead ends;

loops.

The robot’s task is to:

start from the marked start position;

navigate to the destination marker;

return to the start;

complete the full route in the fastest valid time.

The maze layout will not be known to teams before the event. During the competition, the maze will be changed three times, with a different layout used for the qualification round, semi-final and final. Teams should therefore design robots that can explore, adapt and optimise routes rather than simply memorising a fixed course.

Teams should read the latest Competition Rule Book before entering and before attending the event. The rule book includes the full robot requirements, maze rules, timing process, penalties, safety requirements, battery guidance, judging criteria and event instructions.

A copy of the latest Competition Rule Book can be found here: (https://maidstone-hackspace.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Micromouse-Mayhem-Competition-Rule-Book-09-08-26.pdf)

Team entry

Team entry is £35 per team.

Each team may include up to five members. The entry fee covers the whole team, so you only need to book one Team Entry ticket per robot/team.

Please note that Eventbrite may apply a small additional booking, service or processing fee at checkout. This fee is not included in the £35 team entry fee and is charged separately by Eventbrite before payment is completed.

The event is limited to 16 teams.

Teams with members under 18 must have a named responsible adult, and all under-18 competitors must be accompanied during the event.

Competition format

The planned format is:

Qualification round — all teams compete.

Semi-final — the fastest eight teams progress.

Final — the fastest four teams compete for the main places.

Each team will receive a timed maze session during each round it qualifies for. The fastest valid completed run within that session will be recorded.

The final round will decide 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.

Prizes and awards

Main prizes will be awarded for:

1st place

2nd place

3rd place

Prize goody bags are planned using robotics, electronics and maker components from with approximate values of:

1st place: around £75

2nd place: around £50

3rd place: around £25

Exact prize contents may vary depending on stock and availability.

Additional awards may also be given for categories such as:

most ingenious design;

best presentation;

route optimisation;

lowest-cost build;

most entertaining performance.

These additional awards are designed to recognise creativity, communication, practical problem-solving and the effort teams put into their robots.

Help the judges: document your build

Teams are strongly encouraged to document their robot build process before the event and bring this with them on the day. This does not need to be a formal presentation, but it will help the judges understand how the robot was designed, built, tested and improved.

This is especially useful for the special awards, such as lowest-cost build, most ingenious design, best presentation, route optimisation and most entertaining performance.

Your build documentation could include:

a simple parts list;

approximate cost of components;

where parts were sourced from;

any reused, recycled or repurposed materials;

photos of the build process;

early prototypes or failed designs;

problems encountered during testing;

how the team solved technical or design challenges;

why particular sensors, motors, wheels, batteries or materials were chosen;

changes made after testing;

notes on the robot’s route-finding or optimisation strategy;

anything unusual, clever, funny or creative about the design.

Teams do not need to produce a polished engineering report. A notebook, printed sheet, poster, slideshow, folder of photos or short verbal explanation is enough. The aim is to help the judges recognise the effort, creativity and problem-solving behind each robot, not just the final race time.

For the lowest-cost

Description supplied by the event organiser.