$8
per symbol
Cyvl Challenge 2027
Build the robot. Win $50K.
The winning team gets $50K and job offers at Cyvl to keep building the future of road work. Every selected team gets $25K, LiDAR, cameras, and compute.
WPI · MIT · Olin · Multidisciplinary student teams
Perceive · plan · paint · verify
The old way
Four people. Stencils. Paint. Live traffic.
Cities still lay out, align, and paint road markings by hand. Crews repeat the same dangerous process at every intersection.
We’re going to automate the whole job with robots.
Win conditions
The 10× targets
2 min
per symbol
0
people in the lane
<$50k
machine cost
Targets, not benchmarks. Teams will lock the real spec with our DPW partner.
What you build
One machine. Six hard problems.
Truck-mounted, trailer-towed, or self-deploying. The form factor is yours.
Perception
Read the intersection
Localization
Hold millimeters
Mechanism
Move the nozzle
Materials
Lay down real paint
Autonomy
Decide and verify
Safety
Stop for traffic
What every team gets
We fund the build and hand you the full stack.
Every selected team receives the same package up front, plus real road data, Cyvl engineers, shop space, a test site, and access to city customers.
$25K
Build budget for every team
LiDAR
Professional sensing hardware
Cameras
360° and vision hardware
Compute
Models, API access, and processing
One academic year
Four gates. One working robot.
Sep – Oct
Scope
Gate · Signed target spec
Nov – Dec
Prove
Gate · Three bench demos
Jan – Mar
Integrate
Gate · Ten symbols, one run
Apr – May
Demo
Gate · Paint on real road
Win the challenge
$50K
Awarded to the winning team
Win it. Then come work at Cyvl.
The winning team receives an additional $50,000, plus guaranteed internship or full-time offers to keep building the system with us.