Incheon City has secured the hosting rights for the '2026 World RoboCup Competition' (RoboCup 2026), the world's largest artificial intelligence (AI) robot competition.
On the 23rd, the city announced that Incheon was finally selected as the host city for the 2026 competition at the RoboCup Federation board meeting held in the Netherlands on the 18th. The city has been working to attract the event in cooperation with the Korea Robot Industry Association, Incheon Technopark, and Incheon Robot Land.
The World RoboCup Competition has been held annually since its first event in Nagoya, Japan, in 1997, and since 2002, the humanoid league, where robots kick a ball on two legs like humans, has been added, gaining popularity. Next year's competition will be held in Salvador, Brazil.
The 2026 World RoboCup Competition is scheduled to take place from June 30 to July 6 at Songdo Convensia, with over 3,000 participants from 45 countries competing in robot soccer, home service, industrial automation, disaster relief, and junior competition categories.
Including accompanying family members, it is expected that more than 15,000 people will visit Incheon. Additionally, the city explained that the synergy effect with the 'Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival,' held in July of the same year, is expected to revitalize the local economy.
The city plans to form an organizing committee composed of related organizations and field experts to begin full-scale preparations for a successful event.
Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok stated, "Based on our experience hosting various international events, including the Incheon Asian Games, we will do our best to ensure the 2026 World RoboCup Competition is a successful event."
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