Rules and the G‑TRAC standard

The two leagues

G-TRAC runs two leagues because a school with a shared computer lab and a school with a funded robotics club are not doing the same thing, and should not be measured against each other. The leagues are ranked separately and titled equally. There is no overall champion across both.

• Digital Engineering League: software in Python, web, AI and Scratch, on the computers a school already has. Teams submit working software and its project record.
• Hardware League: physical builds with Arduino, Raspberry Pi and sensors. Teams submit a working build on video, with its code and record.

The five dimensions

• Technical Execution: Does it work, and is it built soundly?
• Design Thinking: Is there a real problem and a real user, and was the idea tested against reality?
• Innovation: Is the approach the team's own?
• Communication: Can the team explain what they built, why, and what they would do next?
• Collaboration: Did every member contribute something identifiable, and can each explain their part?

Four of the five cannot be bought with equipment, by design. A team with an impressive build and no explanation does not beat a modest team that understood its problem, tested its idea and can account for its own work.

How judging works

• Championship entries are scored by judges from outside the competing schools.
• Each entry is seen by more than one judge, scoring separately. Disagreements are resolved by a third judge.
• Judges calibrate against the rubric together before scoring, so the same word means the same thing across the panel.
• Scores, not opinions, produce the ranking.

Integrity of student work

• The work must be the students' own.
• Help from an adult, another team or an AI tool must be declared. Declared help is assessed, not punished.
• Undeclared authorship is grounds for disqualification. No finding is made without a person reviewing the evidence and recording a decision.
• Judges may ask any team member to explain their own contribution.

How a student progresses

• Onboarding: orientation missions that teach the submission format and what the five dimensions mean.
• Foundations: guided missions from the book series, in sequence.
• Applied Build: the first open brief, with a real constraint and a problem from the student's own school or community.
• School Showcase: the team presents and defends its build to peers, teachers and parents.
• Championship Qualifier: the team builds against the published Championship requirements, judged by assessors from outside their school.
• National Championship: the team competes, defends its build to judges, and leaves with a permanent record of the work.

Progress is gated on the five dimensions, not on how many missions a student has completed. From the Applied Build onward, students work in teams.

Safeguarding and the standard

• Any photograph, video or named recognition of a student requires guardian consent, obtained in advance and separately from participation.
• Partners, press and the public receive school-level and combined information only, never individual data about a child.
• No sponsor, partner or funder may influence judging, results or the rubric, create a Championship place that was not earned, or direct the curriculum.