Call for Team Participation in the 4th Kibo Robot Programming Challenge (Kibo-RPC)

Kibo Utilization Office for Asia (KUOA)
Experiment at Kibo

We are pleased to announce that JAXA will hold the 4^th Kibo Robot Programming Challenge (Kibo-RPC) in 2023 and has started accepting applications for participating teams.

Kibo-RPC is a collaborative activity between JAXA and NASA under the Japan-US Open Platform Partnership Program (JP-US OP3) framework. This activity is to expand the use of Kibo in the Asia-Pacific region and to contribute to the SDGs. It provides educational opportunities for students to learn about robotics and computer programing in space.

Outline of Kibo-RPC

Kibo-RPC is a robot programming competition. It is held on “Kibo”, the Japanese Experiment Module of the International Space Station (ISS) using its internal robot^*1. The competition will have multiple challenges and will use Kibo as the game space. Participants must build codes^*2 to run the robot in the ISS and will compete for time and the ability to respond to challenges while completing assigned tasks.

This is the fourth Kibo-RPC. At last year’s third competition, a record number of 1,431 participants in 351 teams from 12 countries/regions applied.

Results of the 1st Kibo-RPC Final Round

Results of the 2nd Kibo-RPC Final Round

Results of the 3rd Kibo-RPC Final Round

*1 An autonomous flying robot intended to support astronauts (taking photos, etc.)
*2 Participants shall build codes to move the free-flying robot autonomously using the virtual simulator provided by JAXA and NASA.
*3 An autonomous flying robot developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to replace and support astronauts in their work.（https://www.nasa.gov/astrobee）

Outline of the 4^th Kibo-RPC

Call for applications

Students up to Graduate level from Kibo-RPC participating countries/regions including Japan.

Application Period

February 20, 2023 – May 14 28, 2023

Game Story (this work is fiction)

The air leak caused by the space debris impact was repaired by a talented student programmer, and peace returned to the ISS. However, in 2023, an alert was confirmed from Kibo's control unit that ammonia, which is used as a refrigerant for the external control system, was suspected to have leaked into the ISS. The number of leakage points increased randomly over time due to increased pressure in the coolant piping. Repair the leakage points by laser irradiation of Astrobee!

Schedule

April 2023：JAXA simulation environment open
Around July 2023：Preliminary Round for each country/region (Using the JAXA simulation environment)
Around September 2023：In-orbit final round（Using the actual Astrobee in the ISS “Kibo” environment）

Kibo-RPC Guidance Session

Date: March 2, 2023(Thursday) 17:00-18:00 (JST)
Held with the Zoom conference system
* Please refer to the special website for details on how to join in the Guidance Session.