UPM Robot Development Team Supported by Kyutech Wins the Bridge League Open Challenge at RoboCup Japan Open 2026

Update:2026.05.22

The RoboCup JapanOpen 2026 was held at the Shiga Daihatsu Arena from April 24 to 27. PUTRABOT, a domestic service robot development team from University Putra Malaysia (UPM), participated in the @Home Bridge League with support from the Tamukoh Laboratory and the student project team Hibikino-Musashi@Home of Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech). The team achieved outstanding results, placing third in the main competition and first in the Open Challenge.

Prior to the competition, the PUTRABOT team conducted robot assembly and final adjustments at the Graduate School of Life Science and Systems Engineering, Kyutech from April 19 to 23. During the team’s stayt at Kyutech, students from the student project team, Hibikino-Musashi@Home, and the Tamukoh Laboratory engaged in technical and cultural exchange through the development support.

UPM and Kyutech have maintained an academic exchange agreement since 2002, and every year, many students visit both universities to participate in international exchange and collaborative research activities. The Tamukoh Laboratory strengthened its collaboration with PUTRABOT following the Sakura Science Program conducted in 2018 and has continued technical cooperation by dispatching students to UPM and supporting joint development activities.

Although this was the UPM team’s first participation in RoboCup JapanOpen, the team achieved remarkable results by placing third in the main competition and first in the Open Challenge. In the main task, the team implemented fundamental service robot functions such as human following and bag grasping. In the Open Challenge, the team demonstrated a scenario in which the robot detected and assisted a person in need. The demonstration was highly evaluated not only for the usefulness of the technology but also for its clear and engaging theatrical presentation.

In addition, Hibikino-Musashi@Home achieved excellent results at the competition, winning the Open Challenge in both the DSPL*1 and S-OPL*2 categories, while also placing second in the main competition. The team is currently accelerating development toward the RoboCup world championship to be held in Incheon, South Korea, at the end of June.

Kyutech continues to promote international collaboration with overseas universities, including UPM, and further advance international joint research and student exchange in the field of service robotics to foster researchers and engineers who can contribute globally.

*1 Domestic Standard Platform League(DSPL): A league in which teams compete using the standard platform robot, the Toyota Human Support Robot.
*2 Simulation Open Platform League(S-OPL): A league using the SIGVerse simulator, which emphasizes interaction between humans and robots.

◇RoboCup Japan Open 2026 , click here..
◇ Hibikino-Musashi@Home, click here.