HKU engineering team represents Hong Kong at ABU Robocon clinches historic first championship with stellar performance
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HKU Robocon represented Team Hong Kong, China at the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union’s Asia-Pacific Robot Contest 2026.
view moreCredit: The University of Hong Kong
The HKU Robocon team from the Faculty of Engineering at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) represented Hong Kong and won the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union’s Asia-Pacific Robot Contest 2026 (ABU Robocon 2026). The team triumphed over university teams from 15 countries and regions, including Japan, India, Malaysia, and Vietnam, marking its first-ever victory in this prestigious international competition.
Professor Xiang Zhang, President and Vice-Chancellor of HKU, congratulated the team on their victory, "This triumph is a shining example of the exceptional talent, dedication, and innovative spirit of our students. At HKU, we are committed to nurturing the next generation of creative thinkers and technological leaders who possess a global perspective and the courage to push boundaries. This victory also showcases Hong Kong’s growing strength in technology, higher education, and robotics research on the global stage. HKU will continue to support pioneering research and innovation that contributes to the region’s development as an international innovation hub."
ABU Robocon 2026, held on August 23, was jointly organised by Radio Television Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation. The event marked Hong Kong’s return as host since 2012. The HKU Robocon team "Sapientia", having clinched the local championship for two consecutive years at Robocon Hong Kong 2026, proudly earned the honour of representing Hong Kong on the international stage.
The theme of this year’s competition, “Kung Fu Quest”, honours the legacy of Kung Fu and inspires innovation, encouraging participants to push the boundaries of robotics while respecting tradition. Each team, consisting of two robots, will navigate a dynamic arena where they must collaborate to assemble powerful weapons, collect sacred Kung-Fu Scrolls, and engage in a strategic Tic-Tac-Toe showdown. This journey mirrors the rigorous training and mental fortitude required to earn the title of a Kung Fu master, blending cultural heritage with cutting-edge technology. The team stood out with exceptional collaboration and innovative engineering capability, ultimately claiming the championship after intense competitions.
Professor David Srolovitz, Dean of Engineering, congratulates the winning team and said, “This historic victory at ABU Robocon highlights HKU’s excellence in engineering innovation and interdisciplinary application. By effectively integrating mechanical design, artificial intelligence, and real-time strategy, the team demonstrated exceptional skill in a highly demanding competition—embodying the true spirit of 'investigating things to extend knowledge' alongside cutting-edge technology. I am very proud of their accomplishment and look forward to seeing these talented engineers continue to contribute to society and shape the future through their creativity and expertise.”
Following the local tournament, the team competed with its third-generation R1 robots, featuring a proactive offensive strategy and enhanced capabilities. Together, the two robots can collect two weapons and seven Kung-Fu Scrolls while providing greater flexibility in defense. By integrating advanced sensor technology with sophisticated programming, the robot accurately identified the Kung-Fu Scrolls and determined the most efficient routes in real time. Another key factor behind the team's success was extensive operator training, which enabled team members to master the robot's capabilities and deliver consistent performance and rapid decision-making under competitive conditions.
Team captain Randolph Wendi Zhong, a fourth-year Mechanical Engineering student, expressed great excitement about winning the international competition, “This championship marks the HKU’s first-ever championship in ABU Robocon competition, making it a truly historic achievement for our team. The victory is the result of a year of unwavering dedication and teamwork, with every member contributing countless hours to refining the robot’s design and performance. Competing on home ground made the experience even more memorable, and the enthusiastic support from the audience gave us tremendous motivation throughout the competition. Winning this title is a significant affirmation of our ability to apply creativity and engineering expertise on the international stage, and it inspires us to continue pursuing even greater challenges in the future”.
ABU Robocon, established in 2002, is the largest university robotics competition in the Asia-Pacific region. Its mission is to foster exchange and collaboration among young people in engineering, technology, and innovation. Each year, the competition features a unique theme, encouraging teams to demonstrate creativity by designing and building robots to complete various challenges.
HKU Robocon is a student interest group of the Tam Wing Fan Innovation Wing of the Faculty of Engineering. The team comprises 40 students from engineering and science backgrounds. Supervised by Dr HH Cheung, Senior Lecturer of the Department of Data and Systems Engineering and Dr Match Ko, Senior Lecturer of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the two HKU Robocon teams showcased exceptional talent and innovation. The HKU Robocon team is also supported by a number of faculty members and staff, including Professor Leslie George Tham, Professor Kit Chui and Mr Derek KC Tong.
About HKU Robocon ： https://innowings.engg.hku.hk/robocon/
HKU SMASH Team wins silver at World Humanoid Robot Games with world-first autonomous humanoid table tennis system
Led by Professor Ping LUO, Associate Director (AI Research and Tech Transfer) of the School of Computing and Data Science (CDS) at The University of Hong Kong (HKU), the SMASH Team won the silver medal in robot table tennis at the 2nd World Humanoid Robot Games, held recently in Beijing.
Competing against 11 teams from across China and overseas, SMASH advanced to the final after defeating a joint team from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the Shanghai Innovation Institute, as well as Shenzhen University, ultimately securing the silver medal.
One of the Games' most technically demanding events, robot table tennis requires humanoid robots to compete autonomously under official match rules, without remote control or manual ball feeding. Robots must perceive, predict and respond to every shot in real time, testing the limits of embodied AI, motion planning and whole-body control.
The SMASH Team is a young research group specialising in embodied AI, with members comprising primarily HKU PhD students. Its SMASH system integrates visual perception, ball trajectory prediction, motion planning and whole-body control, while supporting autonomous serving for complete robot-to-robot matches.
Using onboard sensing alone without external cameras or motion-capture systems, SMASH is, to the team’s knowledge, the world’s first humanoid table-tennis system capable of consecutive strikes through onboard perception. It has also achieved rallies of more than 100 consecutive shots with human players and leverages large-scale human motion data to produce more natural, coordinated movements.
The team was also invited to perform at the Games’ opening ceremony, where its robot rallied with Olympic and world table tennis champion DING Ning, showcasing SMASH’s capabilities in highly dynamic human–robot interaction.
Professor Luo said, “Hong Kong provides fertile ground for the development of artificial intelligence, supported by a strong concentration of talent. I hope HKU students will continue to lead and advance the development of embodied AI technologies across the Greater Bay Area.”
The team will continue to advance humanoid robotics through high-dynamic interaction research, using table tennis as a testbed to explore broader real-world applications and future deployment.
Media Enquiries:
Please contact the School of Computing and Data Science (email: cdsnews@hku.hk).
About Professor Ping LUO
Professor Ping LUO is an Associate Director (AI Research and Tech Transfer) of the School of Computing and Data Science (CDS), The University of Hong Kong, and a principal investigator of HKU MMLab. His research focuses on computer vision, machine learning and embodied intelligence, with particular interests in developing intelligent systems that can perceive, understand and interact with complex physical environments.
HKU Robocon marked its first-ever victory in this international competition.
Credit
The University of Hong Kong
The team triumphed over university teams from 15 countries and regions, including Japan, India, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
Credit
The University of Hong Kong
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