Kibo Robot Programming Challenge

What's New

Oct 24, 2023

"Result of final Round" was updated.

Oct 17, 2023

"Status of final Round" was updated.

Oct 5, 2023

"Status of final Round" was updated.

Aug 4, 2023

"Status of final Round" was updated.

Jul 25, 2023

"Status of Preliminary Round" was updated.

Jul 12, 2023

Website has been updated with the following:

Rulebook was revised.
Guidebook was revised.

Jun 23, 2023

"Status of Preliminary Round" was updated.

Jun 15, 2023

"Status of Preliminary Round" was updated.

May 29, 2023

Call for participation has been closed!
Thank you for your interest in the 4th Kibo Robot Programming Challenge.

The deadline for the APK submission is Sunday, Jun 25, 2023.

May 9, 2023

Application deadline extended:

New application deadline: May 28, 2023

May 2, 2023

The Guidance Session video is now available.

Video: Click here!

Apr 24, 2023

Website has been updated with the following:

Modules for Local Simulation Environment was revised.

Apr 21, 2023

New tutorial video is now available!

This video shows you some of the points participants are most likely to make missteps.
If you want to achieve a higher score, please check it out!

Apr 18, 2023

Kibo-RPC Guidance Session will be held.

Date: 2023/4/26 (Wednesday) 17:00-18:00 (JST)
Held with the Microsoft Teams Webinar.

* The Guidance Session have already been held.

Apr 11, 2023

"How to Join the Kibo-RPC" was updated.

Vietnam was joined to Kibo-RPC participating country/region.

Apr 3, 2023

Simulator is now available!

The applicants may be able to access the simulator after they enroll in the Kibo-RPC.

The following important documents are also available for your reference.

Rulebook
Programming Manual

Mar 30, 2023

"How to Join the Kibo-RPC" was updated.

An additional UNOOSA international slot has been established to allow students from developing economies and economies in transitions that are United Nations Member States which are not countries/regions participating in the 4th Kibo-RPC to participate.

Mar 14, 2023

The Guidance Session video is now available.

Video: Click here!

Feb 20, 2023

We start accepting applications for the 4th Kibo-RPC.

Kibo-RPC Guidance Session will be held.

Date: 2023/3/2 (Thursday) 17:00-18:00 (JST)
Held with the Zoom conference system.

* The Guidance Session have already been held.

Result of Final Round

Flying Unicorns

Taiwan

SST 1

Singapore

Galactic4

Thailand

Results

1nd	Flying Unicorns Taiwan
2rd	SST 1 Singapore
3th	Galactic4 Thailand
4th	ORION UNOOSA
5th	Team Paragon Bangladesh
6th	AUS-IEEE-RAS United Arab Emirates
7th	Zetsubo Malaysia
8th	Dream Rover Australia
8th	Eager Hoper Japan
8th	Salcedo United States of America

Schedule

Feb 2023

Call for Participation



Application and Self-learning



Apr 2023

Release of Simulation Environment



Program development



Jul 2023

Preliminary Round



Program Improvement



Sep 2023

Final Round in ISS / Kibo

Note that this schedule is subject to change depending on the experiment schedule in the ISS.

Game Story

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!

※ This is a fictional story.

Game Rules

1
At the start of the game, some of the targets on Kibo module will be activated.
2
Move Astrobee in front of the activated Target and irradiate the laser.
3
Move Astrobee in front of another activated Target and irradiate the laser.
4
When all the activated Targets are irradiated with laser, the activated Targets are switched. Even if not all activated Targets are irradiated, it will be automatically switched after a certain period of time.
5
Move Astrobee in front of the newly activated Target and irradiate the laser. Repeat steps ② to ④ as many times as possible.
6
Finally, move Astrobee to the Goal within the time limit and report mission completion to a crew member. Your score is calculated based on the laser irradiation and the remaining time.

This is an overview of the rules.

How to Join the Kibo-RPC

The applications are now closed

1
Students up to graduate school in a Kibo-RPC participating countries/region under the framework of Kibo-ABC may apply for the competition.

Kibo-RPC participating country/region（as of Apr. 11, 2023）

Australia（ASA/OGL）
Bangladesh（NMST/STEMX365）
Japan（JAXA）
Malaysia（MYSA）
Nepal（NESARC）
Singapore（Space Faculty）
Taiwan（TASA）
Thailand（NSTDA）
United Arab Emirates（MBRSC）
Vietnam（STI）
United States of America（NASA）

2
The team shall be compromised of a minimum of 3 team members.
3
Students from countries/regions not listed above may be eligible to participate through the UNOOSA international slot. Please check the guidebook for details.

1
Please carefully read the Kibo-RPC Guidebook.
2
Please fill out the application form in your language for the Kibo-RPC and submit it to the point of contact (POC) in your country/region as listed below.
3
The Kibo-RPC POC will inform you of your team ID via email.

The application deadline is

May 28, 2023 (23:59)

in each country's standard time.

Kibo-RPC point of contact (POC)

AUS BGD JPN MYS NPL SGP TWN THA UAE USA VNM UN

Australia

Australian Space Agency (ASA)

One Giant Leap Australia Foundation (OGL)

Bob Carpenter and Jackie Carpenter

Bangladesh

National Museum of Science and Technology (NMST)

STEMX365

Mizanul H. Chowdhury

Japan

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
(JAXA)

Kibo-RPC Secretariat

Malaysia

Malaysian Space Agency
(MYSA)

Zahira Mohd Radzi

Zulia Kurnia Dewi

Nepal

Nepal Scientific Activities and Research Centre
(NESARC)

Dhruba Adhikary

Singapore

Space Faculty

Gillian Chin

Taiwan

Taiwan Space Agency
(TASA)

Shan-Kuo Yang

Jill Chou

Frank Lo

Thailand

Thailand National Science and Technology Development Agency
(NSTDA)

NSTDA SPACE Education

United Arab Emirates

Mohamed Bin Rashid Space Center
(MBRSC)

Eman Altnaiji

United States of America

National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA)

Kibo-RPC US Activity Manager

Vietnam

Space Technology Institute
(STI)

Phạm Hồng Quân

Phạm Văn Bạch Ngọc

UNOOSA

United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs
(UNOOSA)

UNOOSA Access to Space for All Team

Tutorial Video

Tutorial Video: 01 How to Login to My Page

Tutorial Video: 02 How to Set up Android Studio

Tutorial Video: 03 How to Build APK and Simulator

Tutorial Video: 04 Explanation of SampleAPK

Tutorial Video: 05 How to Improve Your SampleAPK

Tutorial Video: 06 Conditional Branch and Exception Handling

Because this is a video of the 3rd Kibo-RPC, some of the descriptions in the video do not match those of the 4th Kibo-RPC.

Result of Preliminary Round

Purpose of Kibo-RPC

The Kibo Robot Programming Challenge is an educational program in which students solve various problems by programming free-flying robots (Astrobee and Int-Ball) in the International Space Station (ISS).
The Kibo-RPC will inspire students to develop their educational and professional goals to a higher level.

Participants will have the opportunity to learn cutting-edge methodologies and hone their skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics through this program.

The Kibo-RPC will also expand international exchange by encouraging students to interact with other participants from around the world.

History of Kibo-RPC

1st Kibo-RPC

2020

A total of 1,168 students comprising 313 teams from seven countries/region
has participated in the Kibo-RPC.

2nd Kibo-RPC

2021

A total of 905 students comprising 286 teams from eleven countries/region
has participated in the Kibo-RPC.

3rd Kibo-RPC

2022

A total of 1,431 students comprising 351 teams from twelve countries/region
has participated in the Kibo-RPC.

Robot Introduction

Astrobee

Astrobee, NASA's new free-flying robotic system, will help astronauts reduce the time spent on routine duties, allowing them to focus more on things that only humans can do.

Int-Ball

Int-Ball is a free-flying camera robot aiming to ultimately reduce crew time to zero for routine video-shooting tasks by crew in ISS/Kibo.