Overview
The RoboSoft Competition 2026 invites teams to test the design and control of their robots in challenging scenarios. The competition will showcase novelties of soft robots like resilience, body compliance, delicate contact, and deformability. The principal aim of the competition is twofold: first, to challenge state-of-the-art soft robots; second, to demonstrate the performance of soft robots to increase their impact value.
The RoboSoft Competition 2026 is made of scenarios which focus on real-world robot applications. This year competition will focus on two specific challenges: “in-pipe locomotion”, and “harvesting of delicate ripe fruits”. In the 2026 edition, we invite both autonomous and teleoperated robots. For all scenarios, teams are invited to bring their own robot.
The rulebook for the competition can be found on the Call for Teams page.
Schedule and Venue
The competition setup and trial runs will take place on April 8, and the competition itself will be held on April 9. The venue is the space at the back of Motenashi Square on the basement floor, adjacent to the Art Gallery area.
Registered Teams
In-pipe locomotion
- Sustech Crawler, Southern University of Science and Technology
- Subsurface HElical Actuated Robot (SHEAR), University of Bristol
- X – CRABS (eXperimental Compliant Robotic Arthropod of Bio-inspired Softness), Tecnológico de Monterrey
- Imperial RoboGast, Imperial College London
Harvesting of delicate ripe fruits
- Petal-shaped Gripper, Southern University of Science and Technology
- Origami-structured Gripper, Southern University of Science and Technology
- ROtated-based Soft grippEr (ROSE), Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
- Artichoke Gripper, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
- Chill Gripper, Politecnico di Bari
- MORI: MOdular Rigidity-adaptive Instrument, Tecnológico de Monterrey
