International Aerial Robotics Competition

IARC Mission 10

Official Rules

The 2026 event was held August 12 - August 13, 2026 at the UAS and Counter UAS Test Center outside Huntsville Alabama, U.S.A.
A winner of IARC MISSION 10 in 2027 will receive a Grand Prize of $30,000.

New teams should submit their applications (ideally) from January to March of 2027, although applications will still be accepted up until June 1 2027. Registering early will assure that your team receives all updates as soon as they are issued.

Results from the 2026 MISSION 10 event will be posted here by October 2026. In summary, none of the 7 international teams attending (3 from the U.S.A., one from Poland, one from India, one from Norway, and one from China) were able to plot a path across the minefield without stepping on a mine, though it should be noted that the Norwegian team found a circuitous path that correctly navigated the minefield... except for a single fatal misstep. Watch for the updated 2027 Official Rules at this website. They will include modifications/new procedures for the 2027 event based on feedback from all of the teams. A key feature will be direct communications between the drones and the 'person at risk' who is crossing the minefield. Instead of mapping the entire minefield, the IARC organizers want to see real-time interaction between the drones and the 'person at risk' such that the drones are directing the person's direction and safe steps as they navigate the minefield. Watch the following video. It accurately shows the kind of fully-autonomous drone behavior that will be described in the upcoming Official Rules version for the 2027 IARC Event.

Mission 9 Winner

The Ascend team from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) demonstrated all of the required behaviors called out in the MISSION 9 requirements and has been declared the winner.
More details can be found here

Cutting-Edge Technology

Multidisciplinary Teams

Real-World Applicability

What is the IARC

The premier aerial robotics challenge since 1991

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International Aerial Robotics Competition is the longest running collegiate aerial robotics challenge in the world, having celebrated its 34th anniversary in 2025. The primary purpose of the IARC is to move the state-of-the-art in aerial robotics forward through the creation of significant and useful mission challenges that are considered 'impossible' at the time that they are proposed.

With a long history of pushing the cutting-edge in aerial robotic behavior, the International Aerial Robotics Competition continues to challenge the best engineering students from around the world to develop the next generation of aerial robots. The IARC is not a "spectator sport," but rather a "technology sport." Numerous teams have demonstrated systems that have been of interest to industry and government, leading to sponsorship and contract opportunities.

Moreover, competitors have leveraged their competition contacts and experience to get jobs in the UAS industry or in government. The competition has always encouraged a collaborative atmosphere where teams compete against the mission and not against one another. See the video below for more information about the recently completed mission of the competition: Mission 9.

What was

Mission 9?

The recent MISSION 9 challenged teams to demonstrate new behaviors, some of which were extensions of past missions and some that have never before been attempted in any past IARC mission. These included:

Precision manipulation of large objects (NEW)
Fast outdoor operations over long distance (extension of MISSION 4)
Interaction with moving frames of reference (extension of MISSION 7)
Aerial robotic repair of mobile platforms (NEW)
Optical recognition (extension of MISSIONS 5, 6, 8)
Using ONLY onboard computing (NEW)

The World's Premier

Aerial Robotics
Challenge

IARC Mission 10

Mission 9 Winner