2026 Guidelines/Application Form

2025-2026 marks the eleventh competition for the title of Drillbotics® champion. The past years involved undergraduates, masters and doctoral students from a variety of disciplines who built innovative drilling machines and downhole tools while developing a deeper understanding of automating the drilling process. In 2021 and 2022 teams opted to create models to simulate drilling from a full-sized rig. In 2023 we introduced a well control option for the virtual rigs.

For the 2025-2026 Competition, the Drillbotics Committee surveyed former students, faculty supervisors, previous judges, sponsors and industry leaders to make the contest more relevant to both academic and industry needs. Choose your track: Mode V (Virtual) for simulator-based control or Mode P (Physical) to build your own mini-rig. We hope you enjoy this year’s competition.

The 2025-2026 Guidelines are now live at https://open-source-drilling-community.github.io/drillbotics-guidelines/latest/ 

Key Dates:

• Registration Deadline: December 31, 2025
• Phase 1 Reports Due: December 31, 2025
• Finalists Announced: January/February 2026
• Drillbotics Booth at IADC/SPE Drilling Conference: March 2026
• Competition Day: May/June 2026