Cyvl Challenge 2027

Build the robot. Win $50K.

Build a real autonomous road-marking robot in one academic year. Cyvl gives every selected team $10K cash plus roughly $15K in sensors. The winner takes $50K and gets job offers at Cyvl.

Apply by email See the targets
Autonomous road-marking robot concepts painting crosswalks and street symbols while an engineering team reviews the work
Eligible schools
Massachusetts colleges and universities
Core team
3 to 6 students
Team format
Independent teams or student clubs
Organizer
Cyvl

Club teams should name the 3 to 6 core members who will lead the build.

The old way

Four people, stencils, and paint, in live traffic.

Cities still lay out, align, and paint road markings by hand. Crews repeat the same dangerous process at every intersection.

Four road workers painting a crosswalk by hand with rollers and large stencils
Crosswalks, rolled by hand
A road worker pouring yellow marking paint and brushing the line by hand
Road lines, poured by hand

We're going to automate the whole job with robots.

Win conditions

The 10× targets

$8
per symbol
2 min
per symbol
0
people in the lane
<$25K
total cost per robot

Targets, not benchmarks. Teams will lock the real spec with our public works 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

Your build package

You bring the team. We bring the budget, sensors, and streets.

Every selected team gets $10K cash to spend on the robot, plus roughly $15K in Cyvl sensing hardware. Your mission: build the complete robot for under $25K.

$10K
Cash, yours to spend on the robot build
~$15K
Lidar, 360° cameras, and sensors
Real roads
Road data, a test site, and city access
Cyvl crew
Engineers, compute, and shop space

One academic year

Four gates, one working robot.

  1. Sep to Oct

    Scope

    Gate: a signed target spec

  2. Nov to Dec

    Prove

    Gate: three bench demos

  3. Jan to Mar

    Integrate

    Gate: ten symbols in one run

  4. Apr to May

    Demo

    Gate: paint on a real road

Win the challenge

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.

Apply by email