RWU team in the final of the RoboCup German Open

Weingarten and Cologne - On Saturday, March 14, the RoboCup team from Ravensburg-Weingarten University of Applied Sciences (RWU) took third place in the @Home League at the RoboCup German Open finals. The RoboCup German Open is one of the largest events for artificial intelligence and robotics in Europe.

Researchers, students and young talents from all over the world present their developments and compete against each other. In the @Home League, teams compete with autonomous service robots that perform everyday household tasks.

RWU's RoboCup team competed with robots "Tiago" and "Kate"

This year, the RWU RoboCup team sent the robots "Tiago" and "Kate" into the race. Tiago was built in 2018 as part of a research project and is currently the RWU team's most modern robot. Several 3D cameras are installed in its head and it has an integrated high-performance computer for operating large AI models.

Tiago can also make its own creative decisions. According to team leader Benjamin Stähle, this is particularly important in the competition, as the challenges are not known in advance, making traditional programming impossible. Kate, on the other hand, is a service robot that was mainly used this year to fetch and fold laundry.

Best Poster Award for RWU team

In addition to third place in the @Home League, the RWU team took home the Best Poster Award this year. This is a scientific prize that is awarded in each league in addition to the robot scoring runs. Each team presents its current technical and scientific progress and receives points from the other teams.

The RoboCup German Open took place in Cologne this year. There was a record turnout with over 1,100 participants. A total of 280 teams from universities, colleges and schools competed with their self-developed robots.

RoboCup German Open is a "talent factory"

The Federal Minister of Research, Technology and Space, Dorothee Bär, was the patron of the RoboCup German Open 2026 and opened the competition. "RoboCup is a talent factory and an important instrument for introducing young people to AI-based robotics in order to inspire them to pursue STEM subjects and professions or to set up their own companies in the STEM field," said the Minister.

The RWU team will be at the World Championships in Nuremberg next year.

Text: Caroline Kolb