The 5th Kibo Robot Programming Challenge Team Applications Results

Experiment at Kibo
Kibo Utilization Office for Asia (KUOA)

The call for participation in the 5th Kibo Robot Programming Challenge (Kibo-RPC)^*1 hosted by JAXA has now closed. Thank you very much for all the applications!

Participating Team Submission Result

A total of 13 countries/regions/organizations (Table 1) from Kibo-ABC^*2 member countries/region, the United States, and the United Nation Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), participated in this year's competition, with a record number of 661 teams and 2,788 applicants.

As in previous year, in response to requests from outside Kibo-RPC participating countries/region (Kibo-ABC members and the United States), we have established the framework of the UNOOSA international slot in collaboration with UNOOSA. The objective is to expand the Kibo-RPC worldwide, in response to requests from outside Kibo-RPC participating countries/region. Through this framework, students from 23 countries have participated in the competition in addition to Kibo-RPC participating countries/regions (Table 2).

Table 1. Participation from Kibo-ABC member countries/regions, the United States and UNOOSA

Country/Region (in alphabetical order)	Number of Teams
Australia	7
Bangladesh	160
Japan	29
Malaysia	42
Nepal	1
Philippines	29
Singapore	11
Taiwan	68
Thailand	200
UAE	17
USA	42
UNOOSA	54
Vietnam	1
Total	661 Teams

Table 2. Number of participants sorted by country by UNOOSA international slots

Country/Region (in alphabetical order)		Number of Participants
Asia region	Bhutan	45
	Cambodia	2
	India	25
	Indonesia	54
	Iraq	3
	Malaysia	1
	Oman	6
	Pakistan	9
	Syrian Arab Republic	5
Africa region	Congo	1
	Egypt	6
	Ghana	4
	Kenya	15
	Kingdom of Lesotho	6
	Nigeria	7
	Rwanda	1
	Tunisia	19
	Zimbabwe	2
South America region	Colombia	14
	Costa Rica	12
	Mexico	9
	Nicaragua	3
	Venezuela	5
Total	23 Countries	256 students

Figure 1. Age distribution of all participants (*Excluding participants in the United States)

The Preliminary Round and the Final Round

Participating team members will work together to create a program called an Android Application Package (APK) to control Astrobee, in participation in the Preliminary Round held in their respective countries/region/organizations. Astrobee is NASA's onboard drone robot on the International Space Station (ISS). Submission of APKs was closed on June 20, and the Preliminary Round will be held in respective countries/region/organizations from June 21 to July 7. The winning teams will advance to the Final Round which will be held on the ISS around October 2024.

Schedule

May 27, 2024: Application deadline
June 20, 2024: APK submission deadline
June 21-July 7, 2024: Preliminary competitions for each country /region/ organization (utilizing JAXA’s simulation environment)
Around October 2024: The Final Round (utilizing the actual Astrobee robot in the Kibo module of the ISS)

Official Website

The 5th Kibo-RPC Official Website

*1 Kibo-RPC
Kibo-RPC is a collaboration of JAXA and NASA based on Japan-U.S. cooperation through the Japan-U.S. Open Platform Partnership Program (JP-US OP3) to promote Kibo utilization in the Asia-Pacific region and to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through these activities, the program provides educational opportunities for students in the area to learn about robot operation and computer programming in space.
Countries, region and organizations participating in the 5th Kibo-RPC (in alphabetical order): Australia, Bangladesh, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, UAE, USA, UNOOSA, Vietnam

*2 Kibo-ABC
Kibo-ABC is an initiative within the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF) to promote space environment utilization in the region. This competition is one of the activities of the APRSAF, and institutions wishing to participate must submit an application form to the space agency or designated organization of their countries/region.

Kibo

Experiment at Kibo

KUOA

Kibo Utilization Office for Asia

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