What's new in v26

Erebus v26 implements the 2026 rules. If you are coming from an earlier version, these are the changes that affect your robot.

Topic	Until 2025	From 2026
Letter victims	Letters H, S, U	Symbols Φ (harmed), Ψ (stable), Ω (unharmed). They are still reported as H, S, U.
Hazmat signs	Four hazmat labels	Replaced by cognitive targets: concentric coloured rings whose values add up to the type. They are still reported as F, P, C, O.
Fake tokens	-	New: fake victims with three-dimensional letters, and cognitive targets whose sum is not 0 to 3. Do not report or map them.
Swamps	Time consumed 5x faster	The first entry into a swamp is x5, and each new entry into the same swamp adds 1, up to x10.
Obstacles on the map	Not mapped	Tiles with an obstacle are mapped as x.
Mapping bonus	Up to x2	The multiplier is now correctness × 1.2 + 1.
Sensor noise	-	The GPS has noise. Organizers will not change the noise levels for the competition.
Game execution	Announced per event	Server-client setup: your controller runs on your own computer, connected to the game server by Ethernet. See Remote Controller.
Documents	TDP, Poster, Video	In addition, a short video showing how you run your controller in the server-client setup.
Missed games	-50 points	0 points.

The Webots version has not changed: Erebus v26 still runs on Webots R2023b.

The two versions released after v26.0.0 do not change the rules. v26.0.1 adds example worlds with fake victims and a script that turns victims of an existing world into fakes, and v26.1 fixes how obstacles are marked in Area 4.

Updating your program

1. Update your victim detection to the new symbols. The letters you report do not change.
2. Replace hazmat detection with cognitive target reading.
3. Make sure your program does not report fakes, and leaves them out of the map.
4. Add obstacles to your map, as x.
5. Plan your route with the new swamps in mind: each time the robot enters the same swamp, it costs more time.
6. Practice the server-client setup.