The ROBUL team from the Ústí nad Labem Region is heading back to Denver for the world robotics competition
A team of high school students from the Ústí nad Labem Region is once again preparing for one of the most prestigious high school robotics competitions in the world. On Sunday, April 5, the ROBUL team will fly to Denver, Colorado, where they will participate in the regional round of the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) from April 8 to 11.
Competing against 54 teams from around the world, they will strive for the best possible placement in the regional round, which could pave the way to the final competition. Every year, over 3,700 high school teams from a dozen countries participate in the competition.
Unlike in previous years, the ROBUL team is not comprised of just one school robotics team. This year, it is a select regional team composed of the best and most active students from four local robotics teams in the Ústí nad Labem Region. The core of the team consists of members of the Chomutov-based Chobot team, winners of the regional robotics competition in November 2025, supplemented by members from the PaperBox team from Štětí, the LEDbot team from Ústí nad Labem, and the CircuitBreakers team from Litoměřice. Together, they have formed a thirteen-member team of students representing both the region and the Czech Republic.
Each year of the competition brings a new theme and new technical challenges. This year’s competition is titled “Rebuilt,” in which the robots’ task is to collect balls and transport them at the correct intervals to a tall bin on the playing field. The team can also earn additional points thanks to one of its members, who can throw balls into the bin by hand (a so-called “human player”). One of the most demanding parts of the task is the final phase of the game, during which the robot must be able to hang onto a horizontal bar at one of the height levels.
The students have spent the last few months working intensively on the design, construction, and programming of the competition robot. In addition to technical skills, however, the competition also fosters teamwork, project management, and the presentation of results to a panel of experts. ROBUL is also competing for the “Impact Award,” a prize in one of the subsidiary competitions, for which they will prepare a several-minute-long video with English commentary to be presented by three selected team members.
“For the students, participating in the FIRST Robotics Competition is a tremendous experience. It’s not just about robotics, but also about the ability to collaborate, solve problems, and hold their own against international competition. This year is special not only because ROBUL has advanced to the level of a selected regional team, but also because it includes both boys and, for the first time, girls,” says Tamara Klein, the coordinator of the “Robots for International Competitions” activity under the RUR project—Region to University, University to Region.
The ROBUL activity and team are overseen by the Faculty of Science at J. E. Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem; the Innovation Center of the Ústí Region, the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at UJEP, and other regional partners are also involved in its implementation: the Cultural and Creative Center in Litoměřice, Zahrada Čech, the ORLEN Unipetrol Foundation, the Ústí Region, ACTHERM—which is also the main partner of the Chobot team—KOREP, WEICO, Sportcentrum Sluneta, Malfini, and Maprhy.