The Osaka competition of the 2026 Robot Idea Koshien, hosted by the Japan Robot System Integrators Association, was held at a venue in Izumiotsu, where 11 high school students selected through document screening gave presentations. The top prize went to Sato Shisana (佐藤紫咲奈), a first-year student at Miyakojima Technical High School, and the national competition is scheduled to be held in Tokyo on 19 December.
The Osaka competition was held at the Izumiotsu Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Izumiotsu, in a format inviting ideas for the use of industrial robots. The 11 students who passed document screening following an observation event in July took part.
At the opening ceremony, the president of the organizing company encouraged the participants to give their presentations. The judges assessed the originality of the ideas and the ingenuity of the presentations. A range of ideas was presented, including robots to assist with disaster response, robots to help harvest agricultural products and household transport robots.
The top prize in the Osaka competition went to Sato Shisana (佐藤紫咲奈), a first-year student at Osaka Prefectural Miyakojima Technical High School, for her presentation of “Neko-gata Nobiru-kun,” a robot that assists wheelchair users with shopping. The judges also cited the narrative as a point of evaluation. The national competition is scheduled to be held in Tokyo on 19 December.