HKUST Underwater Robot Competition 2026: Inspiring Inclusive iSTEAM Learning and Cross-School Collaboration

Organized by the Center for Global & Community Engagement of the HKUST School of Engineering and supported by Wave Future, the HKUST Underwater Robot Competition 2026 was successfully held on the HKUST campus on May 1-2. The event attracted more than 120 primary and secondary school students and teachers from 24 schools, providing participants with a unique platform to develop robotics skills, foster inter-school collaboration, and embrace the spirit of diversity and inclusion.

Established in 2015, this annual competition promotes experiential learning in iSTEAM (Inclusion, Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) through robotics technology. Celebrating its 11th anniversary this year, the competition has attracted a total of 408 participating teams over the past years.

The competition empowers HKUST undergraduates from diverse academic disciplines to serve as tutors for Primary 4 to Secondary 3 students from various backgrounds, including underprivileged youth, ethnic minorities, and students with special educational needs or disabilities. It also equips teachers with little or no prior experience in robotics or science to guide their students in building underwater robots together.

During the two-day competition on May 1 and 2, 12 school teams participated each day. The morning session featured an introductory workshop on underwater robotics, during which students assembled their own robots. The workshop covered the fundamentals of underwater robot design and control, equipping teams with the knowledge required to design and build customized robots capable of completing timed underwater tasks that tested both precision and performance. In the afternoon, teams put their creations to the test by competing in both school-based and inter-school challenge events.


HKUST students served as tutors to teach the concept of the center of gravity to participating school teams during the workshop.

To promote collaboration across schools, the competition introduced an inter-school challenge in which three teams from different educational levels were grouped into cross-level teams. These diverse teams worked together to tackle a new underwater challenge, testing their communication skills and ability to collaborate across age groups and backgrounds. The three teams that demonstrated outstanding teamwork and collaborative spirit were presented the Best Joint School Inclusion Award.


Participating teams worked together to complete various missions using their robots. Missions were designed to provide them with opportunities to communicate among themselves and foster collaborations.

The program concluded on July 11 with a rope-climbing robot workshop attended by 33 student participants in the morning, followed by an award presentation ceremony in the afternoon to recognize students’ efforts and achievements.

Prof. WOO Kam-Tim, Director of the Center for Global & Community Engagement of the HKUST School of Engineering, encouraged students to view STEM education as more than the separate study of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Instead, he emphasized the importance of integrating knowledge across disciplines and applying acquired skills in future projects and explorations. He motivated students to remain curious about the world around them and to embrace challenges with an open mind. Even when faced with setbacks or unsuccessful attempts, students should be willing to acknowledge their limitations and actively seek solutions. Prof. Woo noted that learning and innovation often begin with repeated experimentation. What matters most is not achieving perfect results every time, but developing problem-solving abilities, teamwork, and the courage to keep exploring. Through this process, students can broaden their horizons, deepen their understanding, and grow both academically and personally.

WaveFuture also shared its vision for technology education and talent development. A company representative said that WaveFuture was honored to support HKUST’s efforts in promoting technology education and community engagement. The representative noted that technological innovation and student development share a common journey, both requiring continuous problem identification, solution refinement and exploration. WaveFuture focuses on robotic solutions for swimming pools and smart outdoor home environments, aiming to lower the barriers to using intelligent technologies in complex scenarios and make them accessible to more people. The company also values openness and inclusion in technology education, hoping to provide young people from different backgrounds with opportunities to engage with robotics, understand engineering concepts and participate in innovation. The representative highlighted that the competition was not only a challenge for participants, but also an important opportunity to cultivate curiosity, creativity and teamwork. WaveFuture looks forward to seeing more young people explore technology and contribute to a more open and inclusive future.

The main award winners of the competition are as follows:

In addition to the above winning teams, Gold (8 teams), Silver (8 teams) and Bronze (8 teams) Awards were presented in recognition of participants’ outstanding performance in robot design, teamwork and task execution.