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Latest update: August 10, 2026
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NameImageDescription
Associated Event
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AI for Industry Challenge
The AI for Industry Challenge targets a high-value bottleneck in modern manufacturing: electronics assembly. More specifically dexterous cable management and insertion, which today is a manual, repetitive process. In terms of robotics, this task is notoriously difficult due to the complex physics of flexible cables and the precision required to see, handle and carefully insert connectors. Train an AI model using open-source simulators (e.g., Isaac Sim, MuJoCo, Gazebo), leveraging ROS for communication. Finalists will deploy their models from simulation to a physical workcell which will be hosted at Intrinsic’s HQ. The top five solutions and teams win a share of the $180,000 prize pool. Brought to you by Intrinsic and Open Robotics.N/AMarch - September, 2026Mountain View, California, USAhttps://www.intrinsic.ai/events/ai-for-industry-challenge 2026Virtual/Online, USA
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NASA Space Roboticist Challenge
The Fly Foundational Robots (FFR) Mission is putting a 7-Degree-of-Freedom robotic arm into low Earth orbit. NASA is opening access to that arm to a select group of U.S. researchers — principal investigators, post-doctoral researchers, professors, and highly qualified graduate students — who have a compelling experiment and the capability to execute it.

This is not merely a simulation or a concept study. Selected participants will have the opportunity to run pre-approved experiments on an active robotic system operating in microgravity.		N/AJune - October 2026Greenbelt, Maryland, USAhttps://spaceroboticistchallenge.com/ 2026Virtual/Online, USA
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The EBiM Competition (Embodied Bimanual Manipulation)
Bimanual manipulation benchmarks today are fragmented. Some evaluate algorithms only in simulation. Others test on a single robot in a single lab. Neither answers the question that matters most: do these methods generalize across platforms, environments, and operators? The EBiM Competition introduces a globally coordinated benchmark that combines an open simulation phase with cross-continent real-robot validation on identical Mobile FR3 Duo platforms. By validating top simulation methods on real hardware in Hamburg, Munich, Pittsburgh, and Shanghai, we build the first reproducible, cross-laboratory benchmark for embodied bimanual manipulation.N/AJuly - September 2026Remote and in-person in Hamburg, Munich, Pittsburgh, and Shanghaihttps://ebim-benchmark.github.io/competition.html 2026Virtual/Online, USA, Germany, China
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IROS 2026: The Humanoid IKEA Assembly Challenge
The Humanoid IKEA Assembly Challenge debuts at IROS 2026 in Pittsburgh with a task every person knows and every robot finds hard: assembling flat-pack furniture, start to finish, autonomously. The target is an IKEA UTTER children’s table: one top and four twist-on legs, hand-tight, with no tools required. Starting from the parts laid out in front of it, a humanoid must assemble the table into a finished, standing piece, fully autonomously, with no teleoperation. Every team competes on the same platform: a standardized Unitree G1, provided on-site and identical in simulation, remote evaluation, and the live event. The scene is shared with teams ahead of time; the graded run happens live on the venue floor. Each run is scored on outcome and time, measured against a human reference run on the same parts and scene, across three checkpoints: Inventory, Partial, and Final. Faster successful runs rank higher. Human assistance reduces the score, and damaging the parts, robot, or scene ends the run. Before the competition, every registered team receives a high-fidelity simulation of the G1 and UTTER scene matched to the venue, over 500 recorded teleoperation episodes, and remote real-world evaluation on G1 humanoids hosted in Singapore and Shenzhen for teams without local hardware.IROSSeptember 27 - October 1, 2026Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USAhttps://humanoid-ikea-assembly-challenge.github.io/ 2026USA
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IROS 2026: The Robotic Origami Challenge
The Robotic Origami Challenge makes its debut at IROS 2026 in Pittsburgh, asking a deceptively simple question: can a robot fold paper? Origami demands what robotics finds hardest: precise bimanual coordination and the delicate handling of a thin, deformable material that creases, tears, and refuses to behave like a rigid object. Every team folds the same object: a traditional Japanese paper airplane (kami hikōki), completed in exactly six folds from a single 15 × 15 cm sheet. Every team uses the same hardware: Sharpa Hands, bimanual robotic arms with dexterous end-effectors, identical in simulation, in remote evaluation, and on the venue floor. Each attempt is judged pass or fail on fold quality by an Origami Grand Master from the Nippon Origami Association, with a ten-minute cap per attempt. Successful folds are then ranked by speed, so quality and time together decide the score. Every registered team receives, before the competition, a high-fidelity NVIDIA Isaac Sim environment with thin-shell paper physics, 500+ recorded teleoperation episodes, and remote real-world evaluation on the same Sharpa Hands rig used on-site.IROSSeptember 27 - October 1, 2026Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USAhttps://robotic-origami-challenge.github.io/ 2026USA
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IROS 2026: Forceps-based Fine Manipulation Challenge
The IROS 2026 Forceps-based Fine Manipulation (FFM) Challenge aims to advance robotic manipulation of very small objects, a task that remains difficult for robots but essential in many domains. Inspired by surgical robotics, the competition extends beyond medical applications by promoting accessible, forceps-based systems using EndoWrist instruments combined with collaborative robot arms. This approach overcomes the limited availability of traditional platforms like the da Vinci Research Kit (dVRK), enabling broader participation and fostering innovation across research communities. The competition emphasizes three key areas: hardware development, teleoperation, and autonomous control. Two benchmark tasks will evaluate performance: (1) threading an elastic wire through hoops in the correct order and direction, and (2) grasping and placing beads on posts of varying heights. These tasks test precision, coordination, and contact-rich manipulation, and are designed to be reproducible across multiple platforms. Participants from academia, industry, and independent groups will compete in both teleoperation and autonomy tracks under standardized rules and scoring.IROSSeptember 27 - October 1, 2026Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USAhttps://medcvr.github.io/Forceps-Manipulation-Challenge/ 2026USA
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IROS 2026: ROCO: 2nd Robotic Collaborative Assembly Challenge
The Robotic Collaborative (RoCo) Assembly Challenge is the ultimate proving ground for Physical AI, designed to bridge the gap between theoretical artificial intelligence and genuine real-world utility. Because our physical world is constructed from individual parts, mastering autonomous assembly serves as a definitive benchmark for high-level embodied intelligence. To rigorously assess these capabilities, RoCo evaluates robotic agents across four core dimensions: Physics Understanding, Dexterous Manipulation, Long-Horizon Reasoning, and Generalization. The 2nd RoCo Challenge pushes the boundaries of autonomous construction through two distinct benchmarking tracks. The Industrial Board Assembly track demands industrial-grade precision, requiring systems to execute intricate operations such as connector insertion, dynamic wire routing, screw tightening, and battery installation. The Brick Assembly track tests combinatorial generalization, challenging robots to autonomously construct customized, previously unseen structures using standardized building blocks. Together, these tracks comprehensively benchmark the next generation of resilient, highly capable robotic systems.IROSSeptember 27 - October 1, 2026Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USAhttps://rocochallenge.github.io/RoCo-IROS2026/ 2026USA