Call for Team Participation in the 5th 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 5^th Kibo Robot Programming Challenge (Kibo-RPC) in 2024 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 5^th Kibo-RPC. At last year’s 4^th competition, a record number of 1,685 participants in 421 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

Results of the 4th 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 5^th Kibo-RPC

Call for applications

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

Application Period

February 19, 2024 – May 13 27, 2024 23:59 (JST)

Game Story (this work is fiction)

An astronaut is about to start the Asian Try Zero-G, a simple space experiment event for students, and prepare tools for the event. Yet, some experiment items are missing on the International Space Station (ISS). Student proposers are waiting to start the live onboard experiments and anticipate watching the experiments. Time is short. Your team's mission is to program Astrobee to search for the missing items before the event starts. Good luck!

Schedule

April 2024: JAXA simulation environment open (You may start programming after the enrollment)
Late June – Early July 2024：Preliminary Round for each country/region (Using the JAXA simulation environment)
Early November 2024：Final Round Event (Using the actual Astrobee in the ISS “Kibo” environment)

Kibo-RPC Guidance Session (English)

Date: March 4, 2024(Monday) 18:00-19:00 (JST)
Held with the Teams conference system
* Please refer to the special website for details on how to join in the Guidance Session.

Participation requirements and details

Please refer to the 5^th Kibo-RPC special site (https://jaxa.krpc.jp) to find your local organizers for details. Each participating country/region may have additional eligibility and requirements.

We are sincerely looking forward to your participation.
Please apply!