Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition

The Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC) is an annual robotics competition where student teams design, build, and program autonomous ground vehicles to navigate outdoor obstacle courses and follow lanes using sensors and onboard computing. The event emphasizes practical autonomous systems, including perception, path planning, control, and integration of hardware and software similar to self-driving car technology. It is typically held in the United States and attracts university-level robotics and engineering teams. IGVC is primarily a collegiate competition; teams are generally composed of undergraduate and graduate students in engineering, computer science, and related fields. However, advanced and well-supported high school teams have occasionally engaged with similar autonomous ground vehicle projects inspired by IGVC’s format. Participants gain hands-on experience in robotics, computer vision, and systems engineering, as well as teamwork, project management, and exposure to industry and academic experts who attend and judge the event.