RoboCup is a global competition of autonomous robots, and around 300 teams from 45 countries and regions participated this year. In the SSL Division B tournament in which Ri-one participated this year, teams consisting of six robots with heights no taller than 15 cm and diameters no larger than 18 cm compete in soccer matches on a 9 x 6 m field.

The winning team, Ri-one, was an 11-member team led by Takumu Hirohashi, a second-year student in the Major of Advanced Mechanical Engineering and Robotics at the Graduate School of Science and Engineering. On the day of the finals, nine teams from eight countries and regions that passed the knockout phase competed for the championship. Hirohashi and his team took on the challenge of improving their robots’ ability to pass and track the ball, and they allowed no goals in all of their matches on the way to winning the championship.

Four years ago, Ri-one established its SSL team, and since then, we have been working toward our goal of winning the world championship. Having failed to reach the championship round in past competitions, I am very happy that we finally won as this was the last year for me to compete as a student.

We are happy that Ri-one’s SSL team won the world championship for the first time ever and that Ri-one was able to win an international tournament for the first time in several years. Although there was a major change this year with the relocation of where we work on our robots, we were able to achieve the best results by adjusting our activities. Next year, we will work even harder to pass on our skills to the younger members so that we can achieve good results not only in SSL but in other leagues as well.