The 5th Kibo Robot Programming Challenge: Report on the Workshop, Facility Tour of the Tsukuba Space Center, and Closing Social Gathering

Experiment at Kibo
Kibo Utilization Office for Asia (KUOA)

On November 9th, 2024, the final round event of the 5th Kibo Robot Programming Challenge (Kibo-RPC) was held (for more details). As part of this event, a workshop for participants in the competition was held for participants combining online and in-person after the event. In addition, there was also a facility tour and a closing social gathering for the students from the four teams from Japan, Nepal, Taiwan and Thailand who were participating in the event at the JAXA Tsukuba Space Center.

Workshop

At the workshop, Professor NAKASUKA Shinichi of the University of Tokyo gave a talk on the differences between real environments (the environment inside the ISS) and simulations, and Mr. YAMAGUCHI Seiko Piotr of JAXA Engineer gave a talk on the role of robots in space and JAXA's Int-Ball2. After that, Mr. Wataru Yamakawa of SEC Co., LTD., gave feedback on the finalists' programs, and based on this feedback, participants discussed about their strategies and innovative approaches to program development. The event was a meaningful opportunity for the students to improve their skills. After that, there was a Q&A session with JAXA astronaut KANAI Norishige, after which the workshop came to an end. (Table 1) (Figure 1).

Table 1: Workshop Program

	Program	Participants
1	Opening Remarks	Moderator: MIYAGAWA Yayoi, JAXA
2	Mini Special Lecture: Robot Guidance, Navigation, Control in Space and Real World Considerations	NAKASUKA Shinichi, Professor, University of Tokyo
3	Mini Special Lecture: JAXA’s Robotic Crew Assistance & introduction of Int-Ball2	YAMAGUCHI Seiko Piotr, JAXA
4	Mini Special Lecture: Feedback	YAMAKAWA Wataru, SEC Co., LTD.
5	Discussion	All Participants
6	Q&A Corner	KANAI Norishige, JAXA Astronaut
7	Closing Remarks	Moderator: Ms. MIYAGAWA

Figure 1: A workshop

Facility Tour of the Tsukuba Space Center

This year, as in the previous year, the final round event was held at the Tsukuba Space Center, with the opportunity for some participants to attend in person. This time, a total of 13 students and 7 chaperones from Japan, Nepal, Taiwan and Thailand visited the Tsukuba Space Center. The students and their supervisors who visited the Tsukuba Space Center first toured the temporary exhibition room, which displays models of JAXA’s rockets, satellites, and Kibo module of the ISS. After that, participants visited a VIP room overlooking Kibo's Mission Control Room (MCR) and listened to explanations of experiments and missions currently being conducted using Kibo. They also signed a colored paper celebrating the success of this mission for display on the sign board in the User Operations Area (UOA).

In the afternoon, the final round event was held, and they watched Astrobee in action with their own programs, feeling both excited and disappointed. After the final round event, before the closing social gathering, they visited the exhibition room of robots developed by JAXA, such as Int-Ball2. (Figure 2).

After the workshop, participants took commemorative photos with JAXA astronaut KANAI, and a closing social gathering was held with the aim of encouraging interaction between participants. At the closing social gathering, students discussed programs and strategies with each other and enjoyed interacting with Professor NAKASUKA and JAXA staff (Figure 3). After the closing social gathering, participants toured the Astronaut Training Building, and the event came to an end.

Figure 2: A facility tour of the Tsukuba Space Center

Figure 3: A closing social gathering

The 6th Kibo-RPC will be held, and we plan to start accepting applications around February 2025, so please be sure to apply. We look forward to seeing you all at the JAXA Tsukuba Space Center.

Kibo

Experiment at Kibo

KUOA

Kibo Utilization Office for Asia

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