# 2.1 The Physical Challenge We are thrilled to announce Njord's physical autonomous challenge of 2026! The competition will consist of a series of tests to evaluate the performance and capabilities of the teams' vessel. Here, teams will have the opportunity to showcase their skills by designing and building a fully autonomous surface vessel. The design must comply with the technical specifications outlined in the competition's guidelines to be eligible for the challenge. In addition to the physical challenge, we also encourage teams to create a digital twin of their physical vessel. This approach allows teams to simulate and test their autonomous systems efficiently and cost-effectively, without the need to launch the actual ASV. This approach allows teams to optimize their design, test and debug their systems in a safe and controlled environment and to improve their ASVs' performance before the physical challenge. We are excited to see the creativity and innovation that teams will bring to this challenge and we look forward to seeing the fully autonomous surface vessels in action. This is a great opportunity for teams to showcase their skills, push the boundaries of autonomous technology and to demonstrate the potential of autonomous systems in the marine industry. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://njord.gitbook.io/2026/2-njord-challenge-2026/2.1-the-physical-challenge.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.