Indonesia's UGM Students Secure Three Awards at Robotics Challenge in Japan - Tempo.co English

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A team of Indonesian students from Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) Yogyakarta swept three awards at the Humanoid Virtual Athletics Challenge (HVAC) 2026 in Japan. This team, comprising students ranging from undergraduate to doctoral levels, competed in a simulation-based event using the Choreonoid platform on Tuesday, September 1, 2026.

The team—the Humanoid Elins Research Club (ERC) from UGM’s Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences—utilized two research robots: the UGM ESR Robot and the ESR V2 Robot. They successfully secured 1st place in the Athletics category, 3rd place in the Sprint (Short-track) category, and 3rd place in the Dance category.

"We achieved this despite facing challenges regarding limited information and language barriers on the Japanese-based simulation platform," said Hizkia Imanuel Prasetya, Captain of the UGM Humanoid Robot Team, on Friday, September 18, 2026.

In the dance category, the UGM team performed robot movements inspired by the traditional Balinese *Kecak* dance, combined with "tutting" moves and parody elements. Hizkia noted that the robot fell during the simulation, resulting in a point deduction.

He also acknowledged that the additional movements were too simple and did not involve legwork. "This point deduction is the reason we had to settle for third place."

Technical excellence was demonstrated in the Sprint (Short-track) and Athletics categories. Team member Adi Sucipto explained that the success of UGM's ESR V2 Robot lay in the mathematical model they developed.

The reliability of this model enabled UGM to secure 3rd place in the Sprint with a time of 10.60 seconds and 1st place in Athletics, as they were the only team to successfully navigate two obstacle sectors (1st Left and 2nd Left). In the Athletics category, Adi revealed, opposing teams managed to clear only one obstacle.

"A precise mathematical model can produce a robot simulation that closely mimics human movement. The robot's legs appeared to hover, resembling the motion of a person running," said Adi. Another team member, Bernardinus Farel Radhitya P., explained the robot design process. He noted that integrating the 3D designs—bringing them to the point where they were ready for simulation—took up to two months. This was followed by a three-month testing phase to determine the optimal final robot configuration.

To ensure the continuity of innovation, the team hopes the university will continue to provide both moral and financial support for student robotics research. "Since this was our first time participating in the simulation competition, we hope to take part again next year," he said.