A clearer view of what matters

What would it look like if robots carried products around a supermarket, stocked the shelves, and then handled checkout? At the 21st International Robot Contest, that kind of scene was turned into an actual competition. Held on the 13th and 14th at EXCO in Daegu, this year’s event brought together 1,303 teams and 2,271 participants, from elementary school students to university students, researchers, and companies, all competing with robot technologies and ideas.

The newly launched “Humanoid Robot Competition Based on a Mart Environment” drew particular attention this year. Humanoid robots are robots designed to move in a form similar to humans. Competing robots completed missions such as product delivery, shelving, and checkout in both a virtual supermarket-like environment and an actual competition arena. The event was presented with live coverage and commentary on the robots’ movements, allowing spectators to follow the action and enjoy the matches as they unfolded.

The contest was not limited to events staged in everyday settings. It also featured the “Korea Midland Power Intelligent Robot Challenge,” which tested physical AI robot ideas and prototypes for application in high-risk tasks at power plants, as well as a competition in which robots assembled machine parts using domestically produced manufacturing robots. In other words, it offered a look at robot applications in two very different settings: daily life and industrial sites.

This year’s contest was the second event held as part of a regional touring format, following last year’s competition in Gangneung. Participants took on 12 competitions across 54 categories, and the number of finalists rose by about 1.8 times compared with the previous year. Experience booths and robot camps for elementary and middle school students were also operated, and family visitors took part in side programs including a robot magic show, quiz show, and robot talk session. Over the two days, about 4,000 people, including athletes and spectators, visited the venue.

At the awards ceremony, a total of 136 prizes were presented, including four Presidential Awards, three Prime Minister’s Awards, and 18 Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Awards. The Presidential Awards went to the ROBIT0 team in the humanoid robot category, the Buck_Booster team in the mobile robot wrestling category, the Magvision team in the Korea Midland Power robot challenge idea planning division, and student Son Jun-hyeok in the collaborative robot challenge category.

The Mart Humanoid competition was a stage that showed not just robots becoming more human-like, but also whether they could carry out multiple tasks in familiar spaces. Of course, that does not mean the missions carried out in the contest can immediately replace all real store operations. Still, the event was meaningful in that it introduced citizens to robots’ movements and practical potential through competitions reflecting everyday environments, while also continuing challenges focused on industrial-site problems. This report was compiled based on coverage by The Elec.