Robocon is the Asia-Pacific robot contest for university students. Each year the host country sets a new game, and every team designs and builds its own robots to play it. In 2027 the club will enter the Robocon Hong Kong Contest, the selection route to ABU Robocon 2027 in Solo (Surakarta), Indonesia.
It is a full engineering cycle under a fixed deadline: reading the rules, choosing a strategy, designing mechanisms, writing control and vision software, and testing until the robots work every time on match day. Teams are formed by Tier 1 and Tier 2 members and draw on all four technical groups.
- Competition
- ABU Asia-Pacific Robot Contest (ABU Robocon)
- 2027 host
- Solo, Indonesia; venue: Edutorium KH Ahmad Dahlan, Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta
- Theme
- “The Pursuit of Mustika Nusantara”
- Hong Kong route
- Robocon Hong Kong Contest
- Status
- Confirmed for 2026–27
The 2027 game
Two robots per team rebuild ancient temple towers and race to place the Mustika on the highest pillar. Summary of the official rules; the rulebook is the reference.
- 3 minper match
- 2robots per team
- 50 kgmaximum per robot
- 700 mmstarting size limit (cube)
- 250points for the Mustika
Transporter Robot (TR)
Manually driven or automatic. Collects the 350 mm Earth Blocks from the ground area and delivers them to the transfer area, then retrieves the Mustika.
Builder Robot (BR)
Fully autonomous. Stacks two Earth Blocks and a 200 mm Sky Block, team colour facing up, into towers on building spots on two levels of the field.
Sanctuary Mandate
A team must complete at least two towers, one of them in a shared area, before the Mustika can be used.
The Mustika
A ball about 210 mm across. TR passes it to BR, which places it on the 800 mm Central Pillar on Level 2 for 250 points.
Source: ABU Robocon 2027 official site.
Engineering challenges
What makes this game hard, and the physics behind it.
Lifting a block to tower height
Each Earth Block weighs about 600 g. Lifting it fast to the top of a tower sets the motor power and the lift design.
Staying upright while lifting
A raised load lifts the centre of mass. A robot near the 50 kg limit must not tip when it accelerates.
Autonomous placement accuracy
A 350 mm block on a 500 mm building spot leaves only 75 mm of error on each side for the autonomous Builder Robot.
A short history of Robocon
Robocon grew out of the NHK university robot contest in Japan, which started in 1991. ABU Robocon, run by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, has been held every year since 2002. Countries hold national contests to choose their teams.
- 2002Tokyo
- 2003Bangkok
- 2004Seoul
- 2005Beijing
- 2006Kuala Lumpur
- 2007Hanoi
- 2008Pune
- 2009Tokyo
- 2010Cairo
- 2011Bangkok
- 2012Hong Kong
- 2013Da Nang
- 2014Pune
- 2015Yogyakarta
- 2016Bangkok
- 2017Tokyo
- 2018Ninh Binh
- 2019Ulaanbaatar
- 2020Suva (online)
- 2021Jimo (online)
- 2022New Delhi (online)
- 2023Phnom Penh
- 2024Quang Ninh
- 2025Ulaanbaatar
- 2026Hong Kong
- 2027Solo
Hosted in Hong Kong 2027: our target
Hong Kong as host
Hong Kong hosted ABU Robocon in 2012 and again in 2026, on the theme “Kung Fu Quest”.
Hong Kong teams at the top
CUHK won the Grand Prix in 2019, 2022 and 2024; HKU won in 2026 after finishing second in 2025; HKUST was runner-up in 2020.
What this means for PolyU
The Hong Kong contest is one of the strongest national selections in Asia. Reaching ABU Robocon requires robots that are both fast and reliable.
Sources: ABU Robocon history, Wikipedia.
PolyU on the road to 2027
In June 2026 PolyU entered two teams, PolyBotics and Redbricks, in the Robocon 2026 Hong Kong Contest. Neither won an award; their design, build and integration work and lessons on reliability are the starting point for 2027. Read the news.
- Rules and strategyStudy the rulebook, analyse scoring, choose a game plan
- PrototypesTest the lift, gripper and drive base early
- Full robotsIntegrate mechanics, electronics and software
- Test matchesTimed practice runs, failure logs, fixes
- Hong Kong contestCompete for the place at ABU Robocon
