Gymnasium Markt Indersdorf, a longstanding competitor of Student Robotics, took first place, defeating Hills Road Sixth Form College along with returning competitors from The Ladies College and King Edward VI Grammar School in a nail-biting grand final after two days of exciting competition.

The game: The Neutral Zone

This year’s game, The Neutral Zone, had teams collecting lost samples after a disastrous chemical spill threatened to disrupt vital research!

There were two types of samples: acidic and basic, and the teams earned points for having only one kind of sample in their laboratory, since having one of each type would cancel each other out.

The game was open to a huge range of strategies, from collecting only one type of sample and quickly taking them back to their lab (or keeping them inside the robot), to more sneaky tactics involving stealing other teams’ samples.

Challenges

This year’s competition offered teams a set of Challenges to be completed throughout the competition year. These encouraged teams to start work on their robots early and covered movement, mechanics, sensing, stopping, transportation, vision, and using the simulator - core pillars to creating a successful robot. The Challenges could be approached in any order, and completing challenges before certain deadlines earned the teams bonus league points which could make all the difference come the competition.

League Matches

This year there were over 40 in person league matches on Saturday and Sunday, giving teams the chance to refine their strategies and perfect their implementation in software.

Knockouts

Like last year, the knockout stage was Double Elimination, meaning that teams needed to lose two matches to be knocked out of the competition. With each round, the competition grew fiercer, and the robots were pushed to their limits as they raced to collect their samples and secure their place in the finals.

The Final

After the gruelling weekend, the final four teams were dialled in with consistent but varied strategies. This was a meet between four veteran teams of Student Robotics, so the stage was set for an exciting final match!

The match started with all four robots moving out of their laboratories in quick succession, with Hills Road Sixth Form College (HRS) securing an early lead by collecting samples within their robot. This was quickly followed by King Edward VI Grammar School (KEG) guarding a sample within their ‘castle walls’, and Gymnasium Markt Indersdorf (MAI) reliably securing theirs. Travis from The Ladies College (TLC) confidently moved out and displayed their tactic of storing a sample inside of their robot, using it as a “perch” for collecting others.

As the match progressed, HRS managed to secure the first major sample collection, taking three back to their lab. MAI proceeded to collect samples from the raised area of the arena, showcasing their dual strategy approach which ultimately proved vital. Meanwhile, the robot from KEG remained in their lab, guarding their well-earned sample.

After the timer reached zero, Gymnasium Markt Indersdorf secured a decisive victory using their simple yet reliable mechanism.

Results

For the first time, a prize was added for 4th place to recognise the achievement of those teams who reach the Grand Final of Student Robotics.

• 1st place: MAI — Gymnasium Markt Indersdorf
• 2nd place: HRS — Hills Road Sixth Form College
• 3rd place: TLC — The Ladies College
• 4th place: KEG — King Edward VI Grammar School
• Excellence in Engineering: SWL — Space Studio West London (award sponsored by ITDev)
• Rookie Award: TMD — Tormead School
• Robot and Team Image: KEG — King Edward VI Grammar School
• Online Presence: WGS — Wisbech Grammar School

The Excellence in Engineering Award is given to the team that displays the most extraordinary ingenuity in the design of their robot. As engineers, we appreciate elegance, simplicity, and robust engineering. The Judges were impressed by the 3D printed design of The Tiffin School’s robot, and the simple yet reliable design of the Gymnasium Markt Indersdorf robot. However, this year the Excellence in Engineering award was given to one of our rookies: Space Studio West London. Their robot sported precise movement through the use of an odometer, and omni-wheels that allowed them to glide effortlessly and accurately around our arena to collect samples.

We’re always delighted to welcome new teams to Student Robotics and understand how big a challenge it can be without prior experience. To recognise this additional challenge, we award the Rookie Award to the highest-placed newcomer in the league, celebrating their incredible achievement, this year’s recipient was the Tormead School. The receipt of this year’s Rookie award was slightly unusual, in that it was accepted by only one member of their team, as the rest were unable to attend the competition. Instead, a dedicated Year 8 student who was involved in the programming of the robot was determined to represent their school.

We award the Robot and Team Image Award to the team that present themselves in the most outstanding way. As usual, our teams rose to the challenge and we saw some fantastic themes! We loved The College of Richard Collyer’s astroturf garden theme, which involved their robot taking the form of a beautifully-curated garden, complete with guardian snakes! However, the award for Robot and Team Image went to King Edward VI Grammar School for their medieval robot theme, and corresponding team outfits which included a King, Jester, and even a dragon!

Through social media, teams can share the problems they’re facing as well as their designs and successes. A few teams stood out to us this year with their regular uploads, such as The College of Richard Collyer, King Edward VI Grammar School, Peter Symonds College, Tiffin School, and Headington Rye School, but the winner of the Online Presence Award was Wisbech Grammar School for consistent and high quality posts throughout the year.

Check out the rulebook for all the details on the awards we give.

Media

If you would like to watch the competition back, the event livestreams are available on our YouTube Channel:

• Saturday, Day 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLDyjLLuZgU
• Sunday, Day 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXoNyv2Ck7g

The playlists for the soundtrack to the competition are also available:

• Epic Playlist
• Chill Playlist

Photos of the event have been added to our Google Photos Album.

Thank You

This year’s competition would not have been possible without all of our amazing sponsors. Their generous support allows us to make Student Robotics free to enter and help us continue in our mission to bring the excitement of engineering and the challenge of coding to young people through robotics.

Our SR2026 Sponsors

• The University of Southampton School of Engineering and Computer Science
• ITDev
• Mythic Beasts
• Hexibox

We’re always looking to partner with more organisations. If you’d like to work with us, see our sponsor page.

Our Volunteers

We’d also like to thank our volunteers, who make Student Robotics happen every year! Some have helped at the competition itself, while others have been in teams working throughout the year to organise the event. Numerous volunteers were involved with making the event what it was. From organising logistics and supporting the Kit, to fundraising and marketing - it takes a lot to make Student Robotics. A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to the success of this year’s competition.

If you’re reading this and want to join us next year, sign up on our volunteering page.

Notes to editors

Student Robotics is an annual robotics competition for 16-19 year-olds in the UK and Europe. It was founded in 2006 by university students and is free to enter thanks to our sponsors and many volunteers. Since it was first run in 2008, the final competition has grown from one room at the University of Southampton¹ to the UK’s biggest autonomous robotics competition.

At the start of the academic year, teams are given a kit containing custom-made electronics at a Kickstart event, where the game for the year is announced. They then have until the Easter holiday to build fully-autonomous robots, which will compete against each other in the final competition. They are supported by volunteer mentors, and software to assist them in programming their robots is provided.

If you would like to find out more, please get in touch.

The SR Team

On Saturday students from around the UK (and Europe!) attended our Kickstart event - some in person, some watched live - marking the start of the SR2026 competition year. Our teams of 16-19 year olds learnt about the kit provided to them, the support we can offer them, and most excitingly about this years game, The Neutral Zone.

In The Neutral Zone, teams are tasked with sorting out some mixed up chemicals. Their mission is to collect and catalogue samples, being careful which ones they collect. But when working with strong chemicals, care must be taken. If teams get acidic and basic samples too close together, they’ll react and neutralise each other, making them worthless. Feel free to check out our rulebook for the exact details.

With just five months until the Competition, provisionally taking place on 11th and 12th April 2026, our teams have their work cut out for them! Alongside building, programming, and testing their robots we’ve set some extra Challenges for teams, which can earn them additional league points. These challenges encourage teams to work on their robots from day one, helping them to learn to iterate and test early and often.

This may seem like a mammoth undertaking, and it is, but the teams don’t have to go it alone! Our Discord provides teams with easy access to our volunteer Blueshirts and the wealth of knowledge they hold. Teams will soon be able to ask for a Mentor, who will attend their regular meetings and provide guidance and advice throughout the year. We also host [Challenge Days][challenge-days] (formally known as “Tech Days”), dedicated days where teams can work on submitting a challenge with in-person guidance from our Blueshirts, as well as spend a day hacking on their robots and meeting other teams.

If you weren’t able to attend Kickstart this year, or would like a recap, you can:

• watch our livestream where we explain the game and how this year’s competition will work.
• take a look at our simulator activities if you haven’t already
• download the microgames which are small tasks designed to let you become familiar with the kit.
• If you’re a competitor, be sure to check out our Kickstarted, now what? guide for some next steps.
• If you’re a team supervisor, be sure to check out our guide on running a team for suggestions on how best to support your team.

We can’t wait to see what amazing creations our teams will build, and look forward to sharing their progress with you over the next five months!

We’re excited to announce that registration for the 2026 season of Student Robotics is now open!

Based in the UK, Student Robotics challenges teams of 16 to 19 year-olds to design, build and program fully autonomous robots to compete in our annual competition. Teams will have just six months to engineer their creations. As well as supplying teams with a kit, which they can use as a framework for their robot, we mentor the teams over this period to help them build the best robot they can and get the most out of the competition. Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, we provide all of this to our teams at no cost.

The competition cycle will start with an in-person Kickstart event hosted at the University of Southampton on November 8th. During the event the game and the structure of the competition will be announced.

The competition year will culminate with an in-person competition over two days around Easter 2026. This will see the robots compete through a league stage and a seeded knockout. As usual the prizes will recognise not only the teams which come top in the knockouts, but also those who excel in other ways.

Details of the game and prizes will be revealed at Kickstart. Details of the competition events will be published when they are available. We expect to confirm places towards the latter half of September.

We have also created some pre-Kickstart activities which enable anyone to start learning about robotics and our simulator.

If you would like a chance to compete in Student Robotics 2026, please fill in the entry form with the required information. Places are limited, so sign up soon to avoid disappointment.

We look forward to seeing your teams!