Autonomous RoboCup Junior Soccer Open Robots

Our project focuses on developing a high-performance, autonomous soccer-playing robot for the RoboCup Junior Soccer Open category, held in Salvador, Brazil, in 2025. The RoboCup Junior Soccer Open is one of the most dynamic and challenging categories within the RoboCup competition. In this category, teams design robots that autonomously play soccer on a small scale field. The robots must work together, navigate the field, locate the ball, and score goals— all without human intervention. The game involves two teams of robots competing to score the most goals within a set timeframe, testing the precision and agility of each team's robots. Our aim is to develop a robot that not only navigates the field independently but also demonstrates advanced skills such as strategic decision-making, obstacle avoidance, and seamless interaction with the ball and other robots in real time. This requires expertise in mechanical engineering, artificial intelligence (AI), computer vision, and control systems. By participating, we aim to push the boundaries of our knowledge and demonstrate the capabilities of Croatian robotics on the world stage. Our project is an opportunity to show the innovation and technical skills that our team has honed over years of dedication and competition.


ZG24Robotics is a Croatian robotics team composed of four dedicated members: Jakov Džijan, Ivan Matošević, Ivan Perko, and Borut Patčev. All of us have been involved in robotics for many years, developing a deep passion for building and programming robots, particularly in the soccer category. We have competed in numerous international competitions and have won various prestigious awards, including 1st place at the European Championship in Portugal (2022), 3rd place at the World Championship in Bangkok (2022), and the "High Rank Award" at the World Championship in Eindhoven (2024), where we also secured 3rd place. We decided to make our robots because our team has been working with soccer-playing robots for several years, and we continue to be drawn to this category because of its complexity and excitement. The RoboCup Junior Soccer Open competition allows us to combine our love for robotics with the challenge of designing autonomous robots capable of playing soccer at the highest level. This project is an opportunity for us to further enhance our skills, innovate, and compete on the world stage.


Our robot integrates multiple systems working in harmony to achieve the precision, speed, and strategic thinking required to compete effectively in soccer matches.


Drive System: This system includes high-torque motors and precision metal gears, ensuring that the robot can maneuver quickly and precisely across the field. The wheels are designed for optimal traction and stability, allowing the robot to maintain balance during high-speed movements and sudden directional changes, critical during competitive gameplay.


Chassis: Constructed from high-quality steel, the chassis provides a solid foundation that supports all the components while maintaining stability even under physical impact from other robots. The design prioritizes strength and rigidity, ensuring the robot can withstand intense gameplay and collisions without compromising performance.


Camera Vision System: Equipped with advanced cameras that leverage neural network algorithms, our robot can recognize the ball and locate other players in real time. This sophisticated vision system allows the robot to make split-second decisions, enhancing its ability to strategically position itself, intercept the ball, and execute precise movements autonomously.


Distance Sensors: To further enhance its autonomy, the robot is fitted with high-precision sensors that detect obstacles, including other robots and field boundaries. These sensors provide the data needed for the robot to navigate the field efficiently, avoid collisions, and cooperate with teammates, ensuring smooth and coordinated gameplay without any human intervention.


PCB and Microcontroller System: We design custom PCBs specifically tailored to the needs of our robot, ensuring that all electronic components are optimized for speed and reliability. Our system includes fast microcontrollers that allow for quick data processing and real-time decision-making, essential for the robot's performance during fast-paced matches.


One of the most crucial elements of our design is the use of 10 custom-made PCBs, each designed to optimize a specific function within the robot:


Line Recognition PCBs: We use one big PCBs equipped with 80 photoresistors and 80 LED’s specifically for detecting field lines. These PCBs gather real-time data about the robot's position relative to the lines, ensuring precise navigation and compliance with the field boundaries. The PCB also houses a Teensy 4.0 microcontroller which is responsible for gathering and fast data processing allowing the robot to react quickly based on its position on the field.



Kicker Module PCB: This board is responsible for powering and controlling the kicker mechanism, which allows the robot to shoot the ball with precision. It is designed to deliver quick bursts of power to the kicker, optimizing energy efficiency and responsiveness.


Buttons and Encoder PCB: this PCB contains all the buttons, switches and encoders for controlling the robot. Since the robot is autonomous these buttons, switches and encoders are used for changing certain variables in the program which means we don’t have to change them in the program on the computer saving us lots of time. The buttons are also used for starting the robot and changing the robot’s strategies, speed and way of playing.


Motor Drive PCB: Our robot's movement is controlled by this PCB, which manages the motors that drive the robot across the field. The board ensures that the motors receive the appropriate power and control signals, enabling fast acceleration and precise maneuverability.

Camera PCBs: We have four camera PCBs that connect each camera to the main board. These PCBs help process visual data from the cameras, allowing the robot to track the ball and opponents in real time. This setup provides the robot with a 360-degree view, improving its decision-making and strategic movement.


Main PCB: The main PCB is the central hub where all critical electronic components are housed. It includes voltage regulators to ensure stable power supply, a compass for orientation, and connections to other systems like the line recognition and camera PCBs. The PCB houses two microcontrollers: a Teensy 4.1 and a Teensy 4.0. The main PCB is responsible for receiving all the data sent to it by various sensors such as IMU’s, Cameras, LIDAR sensors and photoresistors. After it receives all the data sent to it the microcontrollers have to process it all together and control the robot based on the data. The main board integrates and coordinates the functions of all components, ensuring the robot operates as a cohesive unit.


LED PCB: This is a circular PCB housed on top of the robot which contains 30 small Adafruit LED’s and is used to visually show the robots trajectory and ball angle, it also looks nice and brings a cool touch to our robot.


These systems work together to form a cohesive unit capable of executing complex strategies and maintaining high performance under the challenging conditions of international competition.


These custom-made PCBs are vital for the robot's performance, providing the precision and reliability required for competitive matches. By designing our own PCBs, we tailor each function to the specific needs of our robot, ensuring maximum efficiency and effectiveness during gameplay. Since these PCB’s must be compact to fit inside our robot which has a size limit, we had to make some design choices which mean utilizing very small and hard to solder components such as phototransistors and small LEDs on our line recognition PCB. Therefore, we would be very grateful if you could provide us with any sort of discount on your PCB Assembly service since it can get expensive.


Since our robot is a very complex mechanical machine it requires a lot of parts to work together as a complete unit. Since the robots are directly engaged in a match between two other opposing robots, our robots need to be sturdy and firm. That is why our robots must have a lot of metal mechanical parts such as gears, chassis, motor holders and wheels. We have seen and used before your CNC and 3D printing capabilities and they work exceptional, and we are very satisfied with the products we have gotten which why we would also like to ask you for any type of discount for the CNC and 3D printed parts because we require quite a few metal parts and between two robots they can get very expensive very quickly.


We document every stage of our journey, from development to competition.


To provide a glimpse of our achievements and showcase our progress, we have included media links that highlight our past successes and the excitement surrounding our participation:


Here are a few pictures of our current robot which is still in the design and building phase:


Here are links to a few of our YouTube videos showcasing our newly made kicker, kicker power board and dribbler:


https://youtube.com/shorts/fkDikaSKEEk?feature=share

https://youtube.com/shorts/h2ZLIDAvoPY?feature=share

https://youtube.com/shorts/-DLdyViJoh0?feature=share


Below are links to our website and Instagram account where you can see various past iterations of our robots as well as the current one which is being built:


WEB: https://zg24robotics.wixsite.com/zg24robotics

IG: https://www.instagram.com/zg24robotics/


Report on our success at the RoboCup 2024 in Eindhoven


TV coverage of our accomplishments at the 2024 RoboCup:


https://www.skolskiportal.hr/sadrzaj/pljesak-molim/hrvatska-ima-svjetske-prvake-u-robotici/

https://net.hr/danas/rtl-danas/sest-ekipa-mladih-roboticara-sa-svjetskog-natjecanja-u nizozemskoj-donijelo-sest-odlicja-0173863c-4853-11ef-973e-72780b90502a


These resources capture the spirit of our team and the technical sophistication of our robot, illustrating the level of dedication and expertise we bring to every competition. Our team would be incredibly grateful for the support from PCBWay. With PCBWay's support, we would have the opportunity to develop advanced robots and demonstrate our abilities on the world stage. We are excited about the possibility of collaborating with PCBWay to achieve our goals with their valuable assistance. 

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