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Busan Metropolitan City to Host the 16th Busan Robotics Competition 2026

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Busan Metropolitan City, led by Mayor Chun Jae-soo, announced that it will host the 16th Busan Robotics Competition 2026 for two days from August 8 to 9 at BEXCO and Tongmyong University to foster future talent through artificial intelligence and robotics technologies and expand the foundation of the robotics industry.

First launched in 2010, the competition marks its 16th edition this year. It is hosted by Busan Metropolitan City, organized by the Korea Institute of Robot and Convergence, and sponsored by the Busan Metropolitan City Office of Education.

Local universities, educational institutions and robotics organizations will also participate, including the Intelligent Robot Convergence and Open Sharing System Project Group and the R-WeSET Project Group of Pukyong National University, the Marine Robot Education and Technology Research Institute of Tongmyong University, the Physical AI Research Association, and the Elementary Software Education Engineering Research Association, adding further expertise to the competition.

This year’s competition consists of 10 categories: five for elementary school students, four for middle and high school students, and one for university students. A total of 503 students from 260 teams will compete in creative problem-solving through robot building, programming and the application of artificial intelligence technologies.

The elementary school division will feature Robot Curling, Robot Siege Battle, Robot Escape Room, Elementary School Hackathon, and the Busan Eco Delta City Smart Living Robot Challenge. The middle and high school division will include the Artificial Intelligence of Things Industrial Robot Make-a-thon, Busan Port Smart Logistics Robot Challenge, AI Robot Creation, and AI Autonomous Driving Car competitions.

The university division will feature the Marine Robot Challenge. Outstanding participants in each category will receive awards including the Busan Metropolitan City Mayor’s Award and the Busan Metropolitan City Superintendent of Education Award.

A key feature of this year’s competition is the expansion of categories linked to the Robot Academy to include elementary school students, as well as the introduction of new categories reflecting Busan’s regional characteristics.

The Busan Eco Delta City Smart Living Robot Challenge for elementary school students is set in a smart city environment and requires participants to use sensors and robots to solve everyday problems. Students will apply the fundamentals of robot building and programming learned through preliminary training to complete missions in the main competition.

The Busan Port Smart Logistics Robot Challenge for middle and high school students focuses on the logistics environment of Busan Port. Participants will use autonomous robots and AI vision technology to carry out logistics missions, providing them with firsthand experience of the convergence of robotics technology and port logistics, one of Busan’s key industries.

In particular, the two categories are designed to help students easily understand and learn the basic principles of Physical AI, in which artificial intelligence is applied to physical devices such as robots so that they can perceive and interpret their surroundings.

During the competition, expert lectures, robot exhibitions and various hands-on programs will also be offered to increase public interest in and understanding of robotics.

The Autonomous Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, led by Professor Lee Seung-jun of Pusan National University, will once again exhibit Anubis II, its championship-winning robot from RoboCup, a global robotics competition, and give an invited lecture titled “The Story Behind Winning RoboCup.”

Professor Lee will introduce the team’s competition journey and autonomous robotics research experience at a level accessible to participating students. Through the exhibition of the championship-winning robot, the laboratory will also showcase world-class autonomous robotics technologies and research achievements.

Studio Lab, which possesses AI robotics technology, will operate an AI Photo Robot experience in which a camera mounted on a robotic arm photographs participants from various angles and prints the photos on the spot.

A range of family-oriented experiential programs will also be available, including logistics robot experiences, marine robot experiences, AI companion robot experiences, a Busan marine quiz competition, and an AI Busan Climate Information Center experience.

The opening ceremony will be held at 10:30 a.m. on August 8 at BEXCO Exhibition Center 2.

Representatives from Busan Metropolitan City, the Korea Institute of Robot and Convergence, local universities, and robotics industry associations and institutions will attend to celebrate the opening and encourage the participants.

Detailed information on competition categories and rules is available on the Busan Robotics Competition website at http://www.busanrobotcom.or.kr.

Park Dong-seok, Director General of the Advanced Industries Bureau of Busan Metropolitan City, said, “We expect this competition to serve as a hands-on learning opportunity that helps young people develop scientific literacy and creative thinking. In particular, the experiential categories in which parents can participate alongside their children will provide an excellent opportunity for the whole family to engage naturally with robots and deepen their understanding of robotics.”