Tehran is hosting the 20th RoboCup IranOpen tournament, which started on Wednesday and will conclude on Friday. According to IRNA, over 400 teams with approximately 2000 participants are taking part in the competitions across 30 specialized leagues.
Among the leagues in which teams participate are Rescue Maze, Rescue Line, Design and Construction, Student 2D Soccer, Student Flying Robots, Student Soccer Player, Rescue Simulation, and Soccer Simulation.
Other sections of the competition include leagues for autonomous vehicles, virtual rescue robots, and rescue agent simulators, as well as creativity and innovation contests.
RoboCup is an international initiative covering the fields of artificial intelligence and robotics. The ultimate goal of this initiative is to create a team of humanoid robots capable of defeating the official FIFA World Champions team by 2050.
This platform is used to test technologies such as real-time decision-making, multi-agent collaboration, sensor data processing, and navigation in complex environments. The event was first launched in 1997 and was inspired by the victory of a computer chess player over then-World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov.
RoboCup, originally named Robot World Cup Initiative, is an international scientific and educational initiative. It aims to stimulate research in AI and intelligent robotics by providing a standard problem into which a wide range of technologies can be integrated and studied, and also to use it for integrated project education.
Recent Achievements
Thirteen Iranian students under the age of 12 demonstrated their scientific, technical abilities, and creativity by securing second and third places in various leagues of RobotChallenge 2026, held in Beijing, China.
RobotChallenge, one of the world's largest championships in robotics and artificial intelligence, annually gathers participants from around the globe who compete with homemade autonomous robots in various contests. Starting on August 8, the event brought together participants from approximately 48 countries, including China, Russia, Romania, Iran, Japan, Germany, and South Korea, as reported by IRNA.
Iranian students won second place in the Technical Report league, third place in the Senior Robot Rugby category, and in the Innovation category. These achievements highlight the skills and competence of Iranian students in robot design and operation, development processes, problem-solving, and the effectiveness of technical presentations.
At the Rayan 2025 international contest in artificial intelligence and programming, known as the World Finals, Iranian students showed high results in both the AI and programming sections. Ali Safari took first place in the programming section. China secured second and third places, followed by India, Vietnam, Armenia, Serbia, and Pakistan, according to ISNA.
In the AI section, Iranian teams—namely No Trust issues here, Pileh, AI Guardians of Trust, AIUoK, red-serotenin, Persistence, and GGWP—placed from first to seventh.
The final round of the Rayan contest took place on Friday at Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, with delegations from 25 countries participating. The event, supported by the Vice Presidency for Science, Technology, and Knowledge-Based Economy, began on November 25 and attracted hundreds of participants from the USA, Russia, China, India, Italy, Chile, Australia, Armenia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Taiwan, Romania, Singapore, Poland, Slovakia, Vietnam, Serbia, Argentina, Colombia, Kazakhstan, and Ethiopia, as well as the host country, Iran.
In the individual programming section, 60 Iranian and foreign participants solved nine complex algorithmic problems independently over three to four hours. The scientific contest aimed to advance knowledge, develop international cooperation, and establish scientific authority in the field of AI and programming.
Other goals of the contest included improving algorithmic thinking, problem-solving skills, teamwork, developing innovative ideas, starting new businesses, and expanding engineering and programming in the field of AI.
The Iranian robotics team Mositto managed to win the gold medal at the 8th RoboCup Asia-Pacific (RCAP) 2025 championship. This competition took place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, from November 10 to 15, 2025. Khalifa University of Science and Technology hosted the event. The event brought together over 160 teams and more than 700 participants, including nearly 2000 researchers, industry professionals, students, and visitors from around the world to witness competitions in AI-driven autonomous robotics, featuring eight leagues and 15 sub-leagues, including soccer and rescue.
The competition covered topics such as smart mobility, AI for sustainable development, and technologies aimed at solving regional problems. The team, consisting of eight students, took first place in the RoboCupJunior Rescue, Rescue Line, and Secondary League, showcasing the talents and creativity of Iranian students to the world.