{"id":23713,"date":"2025-09-12T12:17:21","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T10:17:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wro.swiss\/gold-and-2x-bronze-at-the-open-championship-in-slovenia\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T10:13:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T09:13:36","slug":"gold-and-2x-bronze-at-the-open-championship-in-slovenia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wro.swiss\/en\/gold-and-2x-bronze-at-the-open-championship-in-slovenia\/","title":{"rendered":"Gold and 2x bronze at the Open Championship in Slovenia"},"content":{"rendered":"

This text serves as a media release and may be used provided the source is acknowledged.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>

Gold and bronze medals for Swiss teams in the innovation category at the European robotics competition<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Eight young Swiss teams took part in this year’s World Robot Olympiad Open Championship competition in Ljubljana from September 2-5, together with over 300 other children and young people. Switzerland did particularly well in the still young “Future Innovators” category, where both teams that made the trip achieved a podium place – the “overclocked.” team from Basel won 1st place, while the “Kirchenfeld Robotics” team from Bern came 3rd. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Each team consists of two to three children or young people who are accompanied by a coach. Since the competition tasks were published in mid-January, the teams have been able to prepare intensively for the challenges and qualify for participation via Regional Competitions and the Swiss Final, developing their solutions step by step. <\/p>\n

Task topic: The Future of Robots<\/strong><\/p>\n

The inspiring motto for the 2025 season was “The Future of Robots”. This year, teams from all over the world explored how robotics can help to overcome global challenges and improve our daily lives. Whether in the design of smart cities, in the exploration of space or through the use of AI-controlled robots in various areas of life. <\/p>\n

Future Innovators: Innovative robot prototypes<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the “Future Innovators” category, the teams had to develop a functioning robot prototype for a real-life problem and present their work to a jury at the competition. The “overclocked.” team impressed the judges convinced the jury the most with their project “buckle.”, an autonomous rail inspection robot for detecting defects, and won the gold medal in their age group. Team member David B\u00e4nziger names the following highlights of their product: “The completeness and immediate operational capability of the robot. Switching it on starts all systems automatically and activates all network services – our specially developed iPhone app connects directly for a live data stream so that all components can be monitored in real time, software updates can be applied automatically and data from autonomous mission runs can be analyzed from anywhere.” <\/p>\n

The “Kirchenfeld Robotics” team also made it onto the podium in third place with their “Farmatic” solution for a fully automated, modular vertical farm. The team also received the “Team Award”, which means that their project was the best received by the other teams in their category. In addition to the creativity and functionality of the robot, the jury also assessed whether the team had thought about the social impact of their invention or how their product could reach market maturity. <\/p>\n

RoboMission: Space missions on the game field<\/strong><\/p>\n

Six Swiss teams took part in the classic competition in the “RoboMission” category, where the robot has to solve tasks autonomously on an approx. 3m2<\/sup> game field using Lego construction parts. On the first day of the competition, the aim was to solve the familiar tasks of this year’s “Mission” with random set-ups as quickly and as well as possible. Depending on the age group, the task was to put satellites into orbit, collect research samples or assemble rockets. Each group completes several rounds at the competition table, with a conversion and optimization phase scheduled between each round. The second day, on the other hand, poses completely new challenges for the teams: on this morning, they are given new tasks and have to adapt and reprogram their robots to these new scenarios in the shortest possible time. And the Swiss teams also achieved excellent results in this category: In addition to 3rd place for Team TopBoter from Eschenbach SG, all other Swiss teams also placed in the top half of the rankings. There is often a bit of luck involved, as Maximus Raymann (Team TopBoter) recalls: “During a test run, the robot took an unexpected path. This meant that we were suddenly able to solve another task.” <\/p>\n

Intercultural exchange<\/strong><\/p>\n

In addition to the hustle and bustle of the competition, there was also an opportunity for the participants from 35 countries to exchange ideas with each other and get to know the host country, Slovenia. To this end, the organizers arranged a great excursion to the Predjama cave castle and the huge Postojna Caves on the second day. Jakob Gutersohn comments: “The excursion to the Postjana Cave was impressive. Such a huge cave system is unique!” In the evening, the traditional “Friendship Night” took place, where the children and young people were able to get to know each other away from the competition and exchange many small gifts such as key rings, flags and sweets. <\/p>\n

Summary of all rankings of the Swiss teams:<\/u><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Category RoboMission<\/strong><\/p>\n

Elementary age group (8 to 12 years):<\/u><\/p>\n