On 15th March, the Robotics for Good Youth Challenge China was held at Fudan University, Shanghai. Students aged 10 to 18 from different parts of China showcased their skills in the leading UN-based global robotics competition, focusing on the critical area of food security. The winners will receive the ticket to the Robotics for Good Youth Challenge Grand Finale in Geneva during the AI for Good Global Summit in July 2026.
As the popularity of AI technology continues to grow, STEM education for the younger generation is moving beyond interest enlightenment and skill training toward a more comprehensive cultivation, such as practical engineering, problem solving and teamwork skills. Unlike traditional robotics competitions, this championship does not focus on speed or winning. Instead, it challenges participants to design functional robotic solutions tailored to real-world agricultural tasks, including harvesting and irrigation, around the theme of food security.
Jiang Yugang, Member of the Standing Committee of the 16th Fudan University Committee of the Communist Party of China, Vice President of Fudan University, and Dean of the College of Intelligent Robotics and Advanced Manufacturing, Fudan University, stated that the competition's theme, “Safeguarding food security with AI,” serves as an exploration of the pro-social values in technological development. It is a response to the global goal of hunger reduction, and more importantly, an echo of China's in-depth implementation of the AI Plus initiative.
On the competition game board, participants are required to complete tasks including sowing, irrigation, harvesting and sorting within two minutes. The robot first identifies plot colors to accurately “sow seeds” in a grid, then drops blue balls into the sown area to simulate irrigation. At the same time, it must identify, harvest, and sort red, black, and green “fruits” from an elevated platform. On the sidelines, teammates keep their eyes on the robot's movement trajectory, while repeatedly debugging programs and correcting routes; some are in charge of command, some of operation, and some of record-keeping.
Pan Xiaobin, the Chief Referee of the competition, observed that the maker philosophy runs through the entire competition process.
The “Shining Youth” is one of the participating teams composed of three members aged 10 to 13 from Beijing, Baoding and Nanjing. Wang Yihao, a team member, said that the team had revised their proposal six times in a row after receiving the competition brief. The seventh version of their work was what they brought to the competition. The competition gave them a concrete understanding of the concepts of resource conservation and food security assurance.
Pan Xiaobin said that such competitions are more akin to interdisciplinary project-based learning. They not only assess a robot’s structural and operational capabilities, but also its expressive abilities, teamwork, and understanding of social issues.
Liu Yu-yin, Director of the Expert Committee of the United Nations Robotics for Good Youth Challenge China Organizing Committee, stated that China’s participation in this competition for the first time this year will enable Chinese youth to build a platform for international scientific and technological innovation. She expressed the hope that they will enhance their innovation and problem-solving abilities through hands-on practice, with a focus on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including “Zero Hunger”.
According to Fang Hongbin, Vice Dean of the School of Intelligent Robotics and Advanced Manufacturing Innovation at Fudan University, universities participate in such youth competitions in the hopes of bringing their robotics and artificial intelligence education down to the level of young people. He believes that if children begin exploring the use of robots to solve real-world problems during their elementary and middle school years, they will develop greater motivation to learn by the time they reach university.
In recent years, Fudan University has consistently extended its focus on artificial intelligence and engineering education to the basic education stage: in 2021, it launched the “Weekend Academy – Fudan University’s Top-tier Discipline High School Preparatory Program” for high school students. By the sixth iteration in 2026, all six new engineering innovation colleges of the university had been fully integrated into the preparatory curriculum system. In 2025, Fudan University systematically established six new engineering innovation colleges in integrated circuits and micro-nano electronics, intelligent materials and future energy, intelligent robots and advanced manufacturing, future information, biomedical engineering and technology, and computing and intelligence, emphasizing the cultivation of cross-disciplinary, cutting-edge innovative talents in line with national strategic needs.
Yao Xu, Secretary-General of the Center for Global AI Innovative Governance and Associate Researcher at the Fudan Institute for Development Studies, believes that the objectives of programs ranging from prerequisite courses to innovation academies are all geared towards meeting the demands of the era of artificial intelligence. These programs aim to further extend the chain of interest initiation, engineering practice, and talent cultivation, prepare individuals for further exchanges and collaborations with peers from various countries, and use artificial intelligence and robots to address global challenges.
