About
Students from the Faculty of Electrical Technology and Intelligent Informatics (FTEIC) at Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, part of the ITS ABU Robocon Team, won 1st Place and Best Design at the 2026 Indonesian ABU Robot Contest (KRAI), and are now officially representing Indonesia at the international ABU Robocon competition.
Surabaya, FTEIC ITS – Students from the Faculty of Electrical Technology and Intelligent Informatics (FTEIC) at Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) have once again made their mark on the national robotics scene. The ITS ABU Robocon Team, formed specifically to represent ITS in the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) Robocon, successfully claimed two awards at once: 1st Place and Best Design, at the 2026 Indonesian ABU Robot Contest (KRAI), held on 12 June 2026 at the University of Jember. The competition was organized by the Directorate of Learning and Student Affairs (Belmawa), Ministry of Higher Education (Dikti), and served as the national qualifying round determining which team would represent Indonesia at the international ABU Robocon competition.
This year’s KRAI 2026 followed the theme set by the international ABU Robocon competition, called Kungfu Robot. In each match, two competing teams race to collect boxes called Kungfu Scrolls and arrange them on a Tic-Tac-Toe-style rack. The first team to successfully line up their boxes vertically or diagonally on the rack is declared the winner. This format, demanding both speed and precision, pushed every team to design a solid strategy, both in terms of robot mechanism and in-match decision-making.
This victory was far from instant. The ITS ABU Robocon Team began designing and developing their robot as soon as the international theme was announced, with the full development process spanning roughly 10 months, from initial concept planning to the final build of the robot. In the last month before the competition, the entire team shifted its focus from development to intensive training and strategy refinement.
This phase proved crucial, since the actual competition field turned out to differ in several ways from the practice field at their workshop. The team had to quickly adapt, including recalibrating the sensors on their robot to work optimally under the real field conditions.
The road to 1st place was also marked by a tense moment. After completing the group stage, the ITS ABU Robocon Team’s robot suffered damage to its camera, a vital component of its navigation and detection system. In the midst of this critical situation, a spirit of sportsmanship emerged among fellow competitors. Team Heroes from Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) generously lent their camera unit to the ITS ABU Robocon Team, allowing the match to continue smoothly all the way to the 1st place title.
This gesture became one of the most memorable moments of the competition, and a genuine testament to the collaboration and sportsmanship that persisted among competing teams, even as they vied for the championship.
Beyond its performance on the field, the ITS ABU Robocon Team’s robot also caught the judges’ attention for its technical design. The team developed an arm mechanism with three degrees of freedom (3DoF), significantly increasing the robot’s flexibility in picking up and arranging the Kungfu Scroll boxes on the rack. This mechanical innovation was considered a key factor behind the team winning the Best Design award, complementing the 1st place title they had already secured in the same competition.
Having claimed the national championship, the ITS ABU Robocon Team is now officially moving on to a bigger stage: the international ABU Robocon competition, where they will carry Indonesia’s name forward. The double achievement of 1st Place and Best Design at KRAI 2026 stands as valuable capital and motivation for the entire team to keep innovating and preparing themselves to the fullest as they aim to make their mark at the international level.
This achievement is the result of the hard work and collaboration of every member of the ITS ABU Robocon Team, who have consistently committed, year after year, to representing ITS in the ABU Robocon robotics competition.