From July 2 to 6, 2026, RoboCup 2026 was held in Incheon, South Korea. Hibikino-Musashi@Home (HMA), a student team consisting of members from the Graduate School of Life Science and Systems Engineering at Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech) and The University of Kitakyushu, achieved 5th place overall in the RoboCup@Home league and received the Best Open Challenge Award.
RoboCup is an international robotics competition for autonomous mobile robots. The @Home league focuses on the development of service robots that can assist people in daily living environments such as kitchens and living rooms. This year, the Domestic Standard Platform League for Toyota Human Support Robots (HSRs) was integrated into the Open Platform League, creating a highly competitive field of 24 qualified teams from around the world.
Among these teams, HMA finished 5th overall and earned the Best Open Challenge Award, which recognizes the team with the most outstanding research demonstration presented through robot-based demonstrations and technical innovations.
The competition consisted of four benchmark tasks designed to evaluate the fundamental capabilities of service robots, followed by the Restaurant task, for which only the top 12 teams qualified. The top six teams in the overall standings then advanced to the Finals.
In the Restaurant task, the robot successfully identified customers wishing to place orders in a previously unseen environment, accurately understood their requests, retrieved the requested items from a counter, and delivered them to the correct customers. The team achieved the highest score in this task among all participating teams.
In the Doing Laundry task, HMA tackled the challenging problem of folding laundry, a task generally considered advantageous for bimanual robots. The team achieved 4th place in this event despite competing with many dual-arm robotic systems.
For the Open Challenge, the team showcased research on Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models, which enable robots to generate actions based on natural language instructions and visual observations. The demonstration included object manipulation using a VLA-based system. The team also presented research on reservoir computing hardware, including a dedicated reservoir chip designed for low-power, high-efficiency robotic systems, along with demonstrations utilizing reservoir computing models. These efforts, integrating state-of-the-art AI technologies with advanced hardware innovations, were highly regarded and ultimately led to the Best Open Challenge Award.
Hibikino-Musashi@Home, supervised by Prof. Tamukoh of the Graduate School of Life Science and Systems Engineering, is a student-led robotics project dedicated to realizing domestic service robots that can coexist with humans.
The team develops a wide range of technologies, including artificial intelligence for perception and behavior generation, robot hardware design and fabrication, and control systems, while integrating knowledge from diverse engineering disciplines to advance Physical AI.
The team also actively applies interdisciplinary research outcomes from the Neuromorphic AI Hardware Research Center to robotic applications, aiming to realize practical robotic systems capable of operating effectively in real-world environments.
Recent RoboCup World Championship Results
| Competition | Host Country | Result |
|---|---|---|
| RoboCup 2026 | South Korea | 5th Place, Best Open Challenge Award |
| RoboCup 2025 | Brazil | Champion |
| RoboCup 2024 | Netherlands | Champion |
| RoboCup 2023 | France | Runner-up |
| RoboCup 2022 | Thailand | 3rd Place |
| RoboCup 2021 | Online | Runner-up |
| RoboCup 2020 | Cancelled | - |
| RoboCup 2019 | Australia | 3rd Place |
| RoboCup 2018 | Canada | Champion |
| RoboCup 2017 | Japan | Champion |
This outcome is based on results obtained from a project, JPNP16007 and JPNP25015, commissioned by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). In addition, Kyutech, together with the Meisenkai Alumni Association and industrial partners, actively supports creative student-led projects such as Hibikino-Musashi@Home.
◇RoboCup 2026 Official Website, click here.
◇RoboCup 2026 Competition Information, click here.
◇Hibikino-Musashi@Home Website, click here.
◇Research Center for Neuromorphic AI Hardware Website, click here.
HSR grasping an object
HSR folding laundry
HSR receiving a bag
Presentation during the Open Challenge
HSR grasping an ordered item
HSR delivering an ordered item to a customer
Award ceremony
Trophy
