WRO India Season 2026 Updates

Theme 2026: Robots Meet Culture

What To Expect? 

The World Robot Olympiad (WRO) is a global stage where students harness the rapidly evolving power of robotics to tackle real-world problems. For the 2026 challenge, we urge participants to look beyond purely technical applications and consider how robotics can become a vital tool to express, preserve, and share the unique heritage, arts, and human stories that form the very foundation of global culture and identity.

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Participate In WRO India For Free

Teams of 2-3 Students in the same age group led by an adult coach can choose to participate in any one of the four WRO® Competition categories namely RoboMission, Future Innovators, RoboSports, and Future Engineers, depending on the interests, knowledge and skills, and strengths of the students and coach on the team.

Note: This year, each school is eligible for one free team registration under the Future Innovators Category.  Additionally, the first 15 teams to register under the Future Engineers category will receive free entry.

Claim a free team

Season 2026 Timeline

Season 2026 welcomes all students and coaches with their robotics solutions, parents, and STEM and robotics enthusiasts to a series of robotics events at various stages of progression for different competition categories. The goal is to filter out the best teams and their robotics solutions at virtual, regional, and national level events and present those solutions on a global level.
 

Here’s the entire season flow and event-wise schedule, which will walk you through all the important events.

Plan Your Journey Ahead for the Biggest Robotics Competition in India

Competition Categories & Rules

Different Challenges | Different Age Groups | Different Learnings

Each competition category has its own unique age groups, rules and guidelines, and team compositions that makes the challenges fun, exciting, and super diverse.

All teams should carefully read their chosen competition category’s general rules and guidelines.

Also, read the progression and qualification criteria for your chosen competition category.

Join the Ultimate Engineering Challenge!

Progression & Qualification Criteria

Each competition category has distinct starting levels, events, and progression paths. The Future Innovators category begins with the Virtual championship (Level 1), advances to the Regional championship (Level 2), and ultimately progresses to the National championship (Level 3).
 
RoboMission, RoboSports and Future Engineers directly enter the National championship (Level 3).
 
There’s a unique evaluation rubrics or qualifying criteria to judge the projects and robots in different competition categories to progress.
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Virtual Championship

WRO India Season 2026 Virtual Championship offers a premier platform for students to showcase their innovative ideas for the Future Innovators Category.Teams are required to participate by submitting their project presentations virtually for evaluation.
The top 400 teams, as determined by the National Ranking List based on these submissions, will progress to the in-person Regional Championships.
 
Event 1 | Event 2 | Event 3 | Event 4
| Event 5 | Event 6 | Event 7: Closed!
Registrations are live for Event 8
Register Now

Represent Your City at Our In-Person Regional Events

Regional Championship

Regional Championship

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The WRO India Regional Championship is an exciting stage of the competition where young innovators from across the country come together in their respetced regions to present their robotics solutions and compete for a spot at the National Championship.

Each year, Regional events are hosted across multiple cities, providing students with a platform to showcase creativity, technical skills, and teamwork in a competitive yet inspiring environment.

Please note
  • The above-listed cities are tentative for WRO India Regionals and are subject to minimum participation; if the required threshold is not met, the respective regional may or may not be conducted.
  • These In-Person Regionals will be conducted for the Future Innovators category only.
  • For the RoboMission category there will be no Regional Championships; all participating teams will compete directly at the National level.

Dominate Various Robotics Challenges of WRO India Season 2026

National Championship

National Championship

WRO India Season 2026 National Championship Date and Venue Announcement
 
Date: 26 – 28th August 2026
Venue: GMR Arena, Aerocity, Hyderabad
Progressing Teams:
 
Future Innovators: Top 125 Teams
RoboMission:  120 Teams
Future Engineer: 50 Teams
RoboSports: 20 Teams
 
A regional ranking list (city-wise) will be released soon based on the progression criteria announced at the beginning of the season (Stay Tuned to the Updates section)

Don’t Miss Out the Opportunity to Represent India Globally!

International Championship

The World Robot Olympiad (WRO) International Championship is a highly anticipated event, bringing together the brightest young minds from around the globe to showcase their robotics prowess. This year, the venue for the International Championship is yet to be announced.
 
For more details about the International Championship is Puerto Rico and it will be held between 8th-10th Dec 2026. Participants can visit the official website for WRO Season 2026 International. Here, you will find comprehensive information about the event schedule, participant guidelines, and other essential updates.
Register

International Championship

Don’t Miss Out the Opportunity to Represent India Globally!

RoboMission

A Challenge-based Competition

Age: Elementary: 8-12 | Junior: 11-15 | Senior: 14-19

Team size: 2-3 students in the same age group lead by an adult coach. Teams can also choose to have a team manager and multiple sponsors to fund their projects, registration fees, and overall WRO journey.
Hardware: Free choice
Software: Free choice
Maximum size: Max. 250 x 250 x 250 mm
Characteristics: Build and program a robot that solves challenges on a field.

Students must design, construct and program an autonomous robot that can solve specific challenges on a field. Because the field is set up randomly each round, the robot needs to be able to make its own decisions during the run.

RESOURCES

For the RoboMission category in the WRO India Season 2026, there will be no Regional Championships; all participating teams will compete directly at the National Championship (Level 3)
 
 A total of 120 slots are available at the National Championship for RoboMission across all age groups.

Entry Point: National Championship (Level 3)
Fee: INR 20,000/Team

ROBOMISSION RULES

ELEMENTARY 

JUNIOR

SENIOR

Future Innovators

Enter at Level 1: Virtual Championship 

Project Submission Guideline

A project-based competition

Age: Elementary: 8-12 | Junior: 11-15 | Senior: 14-19
Team Size: 2-3 students in the same age group lead by an adult coach. Teams can also choose to have a team manager and multiple sponsors to fund their projects, registration fees, and overall WRO journey.
Hardware: Free choice
Software: Free choice
Maximum size: Must fit into the allocated space
Characteristics: Develop a robot project that helps solve real world problems.

Students create their own innovative intelligent robotics solution relating to the theme of the season. There is no restriction on the use of materials. This includes free choice of controllers, motors, sensors, etc.

Teams will present their project and their robot model to a group of judges on the competition day. The judges will not only grade the robot solution but will also look at aspects of innovation and entrepreneurship.

For all specific rules and regulations refer to the General Rules for this category.

RESOURCES

  • All Future Innovators category teams shall start at the Virtual Championship (Level 1) and must qualify per the criteria to participate in the regional (Level 2), national (Level 3), and international (Final Level) championships.
  • Judges carefully evaluate the teams’ projects submitted in the Virtual Championship (Level 1) as per the evaluation rubrics.
  • The top 400 teams from Virtual Championship (Level 1) shall progress to the Regionals (Level 2), that will be conducted in different cities across India.
    There shall be 125 slots in total at the national championship for all age group categories.(Elementary+Junior+Senior)
  • Teams must score at least 33% of the maximum game score to be eligible for progression to the Nationals (Level 3).
  • One of every four teams (or part thereof) shall progress from regional (Level 2) to the nationals (Level 3) in each age group.
  • Judges may select one or more CSR-supported Robo Siksha Kendra teams
    and one host school team from each regional event for the Nationals.
    Unfilled slots at the National championship shall be filled from the National ranking list.

Entry Point: Virtual Championship (Level 1)

Please Note: Registration for one team per school is FREE. Steps to register FREE team are mentioned in the registration portal.

Future Innovators

Enter at Level 1: Virtual Championship 

Project Submission Guidelines

A project-based competition

Age: Elementary: 8-12 | Junior: 11-15 | Senior: 14-19
Team Size: 2-3 students in the same age group lead by an adult coach. Teams can also choose to have a team manager and multiple sponsors to fund their projects, registration fees, and overall WRO journey.
Hardware: Free choice
Software: Free choice
Maximum size: Must fit in 2x2x2m booth
Characteristics: Develop a robot project that helps solve real world problems.

Students create their own innovative intelligent robotics solution relating to the theme of the season. There is no restriction on the use of materials. This includes free choice of controllers, motors, sensors, etc.

Teams will present their project and their robot model to a group of judges on the competition day. The judges will not only grade the robot solution but will also look at aspects of innovation and entrepreneurship.

For all specific rules and regulations refer to the General Rules for this category.

Note: No major changes to the rules are expected.

FUTURE INNOVATORS RULES

RoboSports

Age: 11-19
Team Size: 2-3 students in the same age group lead by an adult coach. Teams can also choose to have a team manager and multiple sponsors to fund their projects, registration fees, and overall WRO journey.
Hardware: Free Choice*
Software: Free choice
Maximum size: Max. 200 x 200 x 200 mm
Characteristics: Teams design 2 robots that compete with robots of another team.

With the WRO® RoboSports category we introduce a fun and exciting game where two teams each have two autonomous robots on the field playing a sports game. 
The game changes every 3 or 4 years and the current game is Double Tennis. Each year little changes are introduced to motivate the students to keep on developing their robots.

Note: There are some specific hardware restrictions, please refer to general rules and check the update section for the comparision.

RESOURCES

All RoboSports category teams start directly at the national championship (Level 3) and must qualify per the criteria for the international championship (Final Level).

All teams will directly participate in the national championship. There will be a maximum of 20 slots.

Entry Point: National Championship (Level 3)
Fee: INR 20,000/Team

ROBOSPORTS RULES

Future Engineers

Age: 14-22
Team size: 2-3 students in the same age group lead by an adult coach. Teams can also choose to have a team manager and multiple sponsors to fund their projects, registration fees, and overall WRO journey.
Hardware: Free choice
Software: Free choice
Maximum size: Max. 30 x 20 x 30cm
Characteristics: Advanced robotics following current research trends.

With WRO® Future Engineers we created an exciting category for older students. With this new format, we want to bring the current research challenge into schools and teach students an engineering workflow by solving real-world-problems. Teams can use any robot, controller and materials that are in line with the regulations.
The game changes every 3 or 4 years and the current game is all about autonomous driving. The challenge is to build a robot with a steering drive that can drive around a track autonomously. Each year little changes are introduced to motivate the students to keep on developing their robots.

For all specific rules and regulations refer to the General Rules for this category.

All Categories

RESOURCES

All Future Engineers category teams start directly at the national championship (Level 3) to qualify per the criteria for the international championship (Final Level).

All teams will directly participate in the national championship. There will be a maximum of 50 slots.

Entry Point: National Championship (Level 3)
Fees: INR 20,000/Team

Future Engineers

Guidelines to claim free team

Age: 14-22
Team size: 2-3 students in the same age group lead by an adult coach. Teams can also choose to have a team manager and multiple sponsors to fund their projects, registration fees, and overall WRO journey.
Hardware: Free choice
Software: Free choice
Maximum size: Max. 300 x 200 mm Width & 300 mm Height.
Characteristics: Advanced robotics following current research trends.

With WRO® Future Engineers we created an exciting category for older students. With this new format, we want to bring the current research challenge into schools and teach students an engineering workflow by solving real-world-problems. Teams can use any robot, controller and materials that are in line with the regulations.
The game changes every 3 or 4 years and the current game is all about autonomous driving. The challenge is to build a robot with a steering drive that can drive around a track autonomously. Each year little changes are introduced to motivate the students to keep on developing their robots.

For all specific rules and regulations refer to the General Rules for this category.

Note: There are specific changes in rules of maintaining Github repository. Please refer to the general rules and updates section for the same.

Minor adjustments to the rules are to be expected.

FUTURE ENGINEERS RULES

Ensure You’re All Set to Compete.
Reach Us Out to Verify!

Awards & Accolades

Season 2026 welcomes all students and coaches with their robotics solutions, parents and STEM & robotics enthusiasts, to a series of robotics events at various different stages of progression for different competition category to filter out the best teams and their robotics solutions at a virtual, regional, and a national level to present those solutions on a global level.

REGISTER

Become a WRO Champion and Win Exciting Prizes and Much More!

Medals & Certificates

At All Championships, virtual, regional, and national, teams will receive 1st, 2nd, and 3rd position awards (Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medals  & E-certificates for all the students and their coach).

Rest of the participants and coaches get recognition in the following manner:-

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Awards
Certificates
% of Total Points 
Certificate
< 25%
Participation
25-50%
Bronze Badge
50-75%
Silver Badge
> 75%
Gold Badge
Register

Special Awards for National Championship

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Have Questions About WRO India Season 2026? Ask Our Experts

Free Webinars & Bootcamps

We invite all the interested students, coaches, parents, and school teachers/principals to join our exclusive webinars to learn more about the World Robot Olympiad.

The Intro To WRO webinar is an engaging session crafted to learn what is required to participate in the World Robot Olympiad, its various competition categories, registration fees, qualification criteria at each progression level, its various benefits, prizes, awards, and recognition.

Free Awareness
Webinar

We invite all the interested students, coaches, parents, and school teachers/principals to join our exclusive webinars to learn more about the World Robot Olympiad.

The Intro To WRO webinar is an engaging session crafted to learn what is required to participate in the World Robot Olympiad, its various competition categories, registration fees, qualification criteria at each progression level, its various benefits, prizes, awards, and recognition.

Webinar Calendar 

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Connect with Us

Get A Call Back

Fill in your contact details to enquire about the World Robot Olympiad India Chapter, its various competition categories, details related to the levels of progression in the season 2026.

If your query is urgent please feel free to contact us at the WRO India Helpdesk

📞: 093194 00171

Impact 

38500+

STUDENTS INVOLVED

100+

MEMBER COUNTRIES

28000+

TEAMS

5000+

ATTENDEE COUNT 

WRO India is one of the largest STEM and robotics competitions for school students aged 8 to 22.
India STEM Foundation
India STEM Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation incorporated under section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956 (No. 1 of 1956). All sponsorships/donations made India STEM Foundation are eligible for tax exemption under 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

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