On August 31st (Monday), a student team from the project-based education program "Robot Workshop" participated in the "Kyushu Summer Robocon" held at Kyushu University (Nishi-ku, Fukuoka City) and won the "Idea Failure Award."
This contest is a competition in which students from the Kyushu region compete with robots they have designed and built themselves. The theme for the 2026 competition is "Beach Cleanup." The competition involves sorting and collecting trash on a field that resembles a beach, aiming to complete the cleanup. In addition to technical skills, original ideas and strategies are required.
This year, 16 teams from 11 universities participated. Two teams from our university took part. The students devised their own mechanisms and proceeded with the design and construction of their robots in order to achieve the competition objectives.
On the day of the competition, each team challenged the competition with robots that they had created with ingenuity and creativity. Our university team, "N Calpas," was awarded the "Idea Failure Award" in recognition of its innovative ideas and courageous spirit. The award recognized not only the competition results but also the originality of the idea and the challenging approach taken.
Leader Faculty of Science and Engineering and Engineering 1st year Ms. (Shingu High School) said, "We struggled with teamwork in this competition. I think it was valuable that we were able to create a robot with a simple mechanism that was different from other teams, but I regret that we were not able to fully utilize that strength. I also had many shortcomings as a leader this time, so in the future I would like to acquire more knowledge about robots and be able to act for the benefit of the team."
The Robot Workshop is a project-based educational program where students take the lead in designing, building, and developing control programs for robots. Through these activities, students practically learn not only the specialized knowledge and technical skills necessary for manufacturing, but also problem-solving skills and teamwork.
The students will use the experiences and lessons learned from this competition to improve their technical skills and take on new challenges in their future activities.
[Robot Workshop / Faculty of Science and Engineering]
