On Saturday, April 11, Saint Maur hosted Robosumo Challenge 2026 in the Cougar Cafe. Robosumo requires students to design, build, code, and test a fully autonomous sumobot, which is then entered into a tournament. Like in real sumo, matches are won by pushing an opponent out of the ring or flipping them onto their side.

This year, four schools took part in the tournament: Tsukuba International School, Christian Academy in Japan, Seisen, and Saint Maur. In total, 25 teams competed across three divisions: Elementary School LEGO EV3, Middle School LEGO EV3, and Middle School VEX IQ. A total of 64 matches were played: 48 qualifying matches and 16 finals matches.

Doors opened for teams at 9am, and the first qualifying match began at 10am. Teams were first required to check in, which included robot inspection. All robots were inspected to ensure they met the following requirements:

• Maximum mass: 1 kg
• Maximum width: 23 cm
• Maximum length: 23 cm
• Maximum height: No limit
• Maximum motors: 3
• Maximum sensors: 4

Saint Maur students from Grades 4 to 8 had been hard at work on their sumobots since the start of the semester. Some students worked on their bots during ES or MS Robotics Club, which takes place after school once a week. Other students worked on their robots during computer science class. In total, students spent between 10 and 20 hours designing, building, coding, and testing their robots.

In the Elementary School LEGO EV3 Division:

🥉 Ice Phoenix from Saint Maur came third,
🥈 Tech.mystery from Saint Maur finished as runner-up, and
🏆 Tech Future from Saint Maur took first place.

In the Middle School LEGO EV3 Division:

🥉 Charlie Pork from Saint Maur came third,
🥈 SKVA from Saint Maur finished as runner-up, and
🏆 Tyler the Creator from Saint Maur took first place.

In the Middle School VEX IQ Division:

🥉 Dekamura from Saint Maur came third,
🥈 CHST from CAJ finished as runner-up, and
🏆 TIS Komodos from Tsukuba International School took first place.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the coaches, volunteers (Sebastian and Marley), students, parents, Chef Dantly and his team at Cezars Kitchen, the Maintenance Department (Mr Osada, Mr Lopez, Mr Yamazaki, and Mr Gelacio), support staff (Ms Osada, Ms Sagawa, Ms Kunimoto, and Mr Kato), and the Robosumo Challenge Organising Committee (Ms Aguilera, Ms McCormick, and Mr Tan). The day would not have been the success it was without their involvement and support.

We look forward to seeing everyone again for Robosumo Challenge 2027!