零空间

The Aerial Autonomy Challenge is a competition designed to promote breakthroughs in aerial robots autonomy technology, especially in autonomous navigation.
As part of the 2025 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), the competition of this year including the variety of complex scenarios, which simulates real-world environments, such as featuring structural and moving obstacles, narrow gaps, undulating surfaces, wind disturbances and a unique "grove" setup. The Aerial Autonomy Challenge is also committed to advancing the development of aerial intelligent systems for industrial applications, all these competition scenarios are carefully designed to test key aspects of aerial autonomy, including environmental adaptability, motion agility and disturbance resilience.
We cordially invite research institutions, industrial teams, and developers worldwide to join us in pioneering the frontiers of autonomous flight technology and exploring its future possibilities.

Register your team: Registration >>
Access to the Simulator: Simulator >>

Announcement: The online qualifiers have been completed. Confirmation emails will be sent to the teams that have advanced.
Furthermore, in accordance with IROS official requirements, all participants qualified for the on-site competition must complete registration and payment. Eligible teams should register via the following link: https://www.iros25.org/Registration. Participants must register under the category C8. Student Competitions. Please note that registration should be completed individually by each team member.
We look forward to meeting you at the finals in Hangzhou!

Task Introduction

The competition focuses on three core technical aspects: environmental adaptability, motion agility and disturbance resistance. The aerial robots must autonomously complete flight tasks in various challenging environments, including crossing structural obstacles, navigating dense forests, stable control under wind disturbances, complex terrain navigation, and passing through narrow tilted frames. Task design fully examines the system’s perception, decision-making, planning, and control capabilities in dynamic real-world environments. The competition aims to accelerate the practical application of intelligent aerial systems and help build robust and broadly adaptable aerial robotics technologies.We sincerely invite researchers and engineering practitioners from around the world to gather at the competition, jointly advancing the leap in aerial robotics technology and accelerating the evolution of aerial robots!

Task Area 1: Structural Obstacle

Structural Obstacle Area serves as the first area to navigate after departure, comprising structured pillars, walls, and dynamically moving obstacles. It primarily evaluates aerial robots' autonomous navigation capabilities in both structured and dynamic obstacle environments.

Task Area 2: Simulated Forest Environment

Simulated forest environment area serves as the second scoring area after the structural obstacle area, simulating a forest environment in natural settings with tree-like obstacles of varying heights. This area primarily evaluates the aerial robots' perception, path planning, and flight stability in unstructured, natural-like environments.

Task Area 3: Wind Disturbance

Wind disturbance area located after the simulated forest environment area, simulates real-world scenarios where aerial robot may encounter external airflow interference. This area is equipped with large fans or other disturbance devices to generate controlled wind conditions with defined direction and limited intensity. The wind is designed to blow directly toward obstacle corners, intentionally increasing the challenge of flight stability control.

Task Area 4: Undulating Obstacle

This section comprehensively evaluates the aerial robot's capabilities in 3D path planning, dynamic obstacle avoidance, and altitude control within complex three-dimensional space. The area consists of multiple undulating obstacles of varying heights, integrating challenges such as narrow passage traversal and elevation-based avoidance maneuvers.

Task Area 5: Tilted Frame

Positioned after the undulating obstacle section, the tilted frame area is a highly challenging optional scoring area. This area features a set of rectangular frame structures tilted at approximately 30-60 degrees, demanding advanced spatial attitude adjustment and precise control from the aerial robot. Aerial robot must accurately navigate through the confined space at restricted angles to complete this high-difficulty flight task.

Download detailed rules >>

WeChat for the Event Operations Team: 19032599295

Telephone: +(86) 19032599295

Email: education@nspacerobot.com

X: @IROS2025AAC

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@IROS2025AAC

Offical Discord Channel: https://discord.gg/kBd2n9D9Rz

Rednote: AAC空中自主挑战赛

Youth Talent Support Program

Together We Pioneer Academic Frontiers

To support young scholars and research teams in advancing their work in the field of autonomous aerial robotics, and to lower the barrier to hardware access, we are offering aerial robot support to participating teams of this competition. This program aims to assist teams in algorithm development, venue testing, and competition preparation etc.

Support Offered

Aerial Robot provided by Differential Robotics Technology Co., Ltd.

Application Process

Interested individuals or teams are invited to apply by contacting us via email or phone.

Please include the following information in your application email: