The robotics R&D team jointly formed by Tamkang University’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Department of Artificial Intelligence delivered an outstanding performance at the 2026 FIRA RoboWorld Cup and Summit, held in Toronto, Canada, from July 17 to 21. Competing in the HuroCup, the team captured eight championship titles, with both its adult-sized and kid-sized humanoid robots winning the All-Round Championship. The Kid Size team, in particular, secured its 15th All-Round Championship, setting another milestone for Tamkang.
The R&D team is advised by Professor Ching-Chang Wong and Associate Professor Chih-Cheng Liu of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, along with Assistant Professor Jaesik Jeong of the Department of Artificial Intelligence. This year, Liu led a 14-member faculty-student delegation to the competition, where the team once again set new records. Wong expressed his appreciation for the university’s longstanding support and for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Alumni Association, which provided additional funding to cover travel expenses, enabling the team’s core student members to compete in Canada and once again bring distinction to Tamkang.
This year, the team competed in both the Kid Size and Adult Size categories of the HuroCup, each comprising 10 events, nine of which are shared by both categories. Since 2025, the 10 competition events have been grouped into three categories: Mobility, Manipulation, and Hybrid. Scores accumulated across all events determine the final All-Round rankings. Liu explained, “The All-Round ranking reflects how well a team understands both the movements its robot is capable of performing and the strategies required in programming. A team must excel in both areas to have a chance of winning the All-Round Championship.”
The highly anticipated Kid Size team competed against 10 other teams and claimed four championship titles: Mobility, Manipulation, Hybrid, and All-Round. While its 15th championship reflects more than two decades of experience since the team began designing and developing humanoid robots under 60 centimeters tall in 2004, this year’s achievement was particularly significant because the team competed with its newly developed 12th-generation FIRA Kid Size humanoid robot. The new robot captured the title in its very first international competition. “Achieving such strong results immediately after transitioning to a new generation of robot was far from easy,” Liu said. The new kid-sized robot features 23 degrees of freedom and, for the first time, uses the NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX as its main computing and decision-making platform. The team also independently developed and designed the robot’s other electronic systems and software. One of the most significant upgrades was migrating the robot’s internal system from ROS to ROS 2, and replacing the motor controller with the ROBOTIS U2D2. These changes enabled the team to standardize the core systems used by both its kid-sized and adult-sized humanoid robots, making future maintenance and development more efficient.
Compared with kid-sized robots, adult-sized humanoid robots require substantially more time for mechanical development and functional implementation, while operators must also be familiar with the robots. Competing against four other teams this year, the adult-sized humanoid robot jointly developed by Tamkang’s electrical and computer engineering team and Jeong achieved a breakthrough by winning all three major categories—Mobility, Manipulation, and Hybrid—as well as the All-Round Championship for the first time. Jeong explained that the adult-sized humanoid robot stands 118 centimeters tall and features 29 degrees of freedom. Its original NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano has been replaced with the more powerful NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin as its new computing and decision-making platform, while its motors are drawn from ROBOTIS’s PRO and X series. “With the mechanical design and system integration finally in place, together with everyone’s hard work, we were able to achieve these excellent results,” Jeong said.
Under this year’s competition format, both the Kid Size and Adult Size categories consist of 10 events, requiring robots to demonstrate comprehensive capabilities across all 10 to contend for the All-Round Championship. Nine events are common to both categories: Archery, Basketball, Marathon, Rock Climbing, Obstacle Run, Sprint, Spartan Race, United Teleoperation, and Weight Lifting. The tenth event differs by category, with United Soccer for kid-sized humanoid robots and Penalty Kick for adult-sized humanoid robots.
