When creativity pushes past limits
Iran’s student robotics team tops Asia
The nine-member Iranian student robotics team, made up of the country’s brightest talents under 17, managed to pull off an impressive victory at the Asian Robotics Championships in Thailand on November 2, 2025, leaving behind teams from China and South Korea to clinch the top spot in Asia. Competing in leagues such as Line Tracing, Creativity, Sumo, Soccer Robot, Technical Report, and Engineering Design, the team faced off against their Asian peers and came away with two bronzes in Line Tracing and a total of one gold, four silvers, and one bronze in the Creativity league — enough to secure the overall Asian title. The Iranian team had previously taken home the Asian trophy at the 2023 Malaysia contest. It had also landed the second spot at the 2024 World Robotics Championships in China in August last year.
By Sadeq Dehqan
Staff writer
Next goal 2026 world title in Beijing: Team head
Nader Nobakht
Nader Nobakht, supervisor of the Iranian student robotics team, told Iran Daily in an exclusive interview that their under-17 squad of nine elite students took part in the Asian Robotics Championships in Thailand for the third time from October 31 to November 2. Facing teams from South Korea, China, Malaysia, Thailand, India, and other Asian powerhouses, the Iranian side came out on top with a commanding performance.
“This was our best team result so far in international contests,” he said, “since we pulled ahead of other rivals by a wide margin.”
Explaining the team’s preparation, Nobakht noted that besides years of hands-on experience in robotics, the students had spent nearly two months in intensive training camps. The team included four gifted girls and five gifted boys under 17, divided into “Junior” and “Senior” sections for those below and above 12 years of age.
Calling the competition level “exceptionally high,” Nobakht said all teams were well-prepared and eager to win. “We had especially close races with China and South Korea,” he added. “Thailand also put up a strong fight, particularly in the Sumo League, making things tough for our team.”
He pointed out that Iran’s team won its first-ever medal in the Line Tracing League, calling it a milestone achievement. “That league is one of the most prestigious in the global championship circuit, and winning there really counts. The team stepped onto the podium twice in that category, taking two bronzes.”
“In the Creativity League,” Nobakht continued, “every single member of our nine-person team made it to the podium, which is simply unprecedented.”
He reminded us that Asian teams are on par with world-class ones. “As you know, we recently finished as world runners-up in China, coming just behind the host nation. But here in Asia, we managed to edge out the Chinese. Naturally, they were in better shape back home, but even so, China remains a major name in global robotics. This time, they had to settle for second place, with Iran on top.”
Nobakht said one main aim of competing in Asia was to gear up for the 2026 World Championships in Beijing, helping students get a feel for the international stage. “Our next goal,” he stressed, “is to climb onto the world’s top podium in 2026 and bring even more glory to our country.”
He added that in recent years, the team had received solid institutional support that greatly smoothed out their logistics. However, the technological know-how in robotics is still growing in Iran. “We’re still catching up with leading nations,” he said, though many students who took part in the 2019 World Championships in Malaysia are now studying electrical and computer engineering at major universities like Tehran, Amirkabir, and Science and Research. Nobakht believes this rising generation will bridge the gap in Iran’s robotics expertise.
He admitted that technical and supply limitations, especially import restrictions, still pose hurdles for the team. “But our students always rise to the occasion through determination and hard work,” he said. “Despite every obstacle, they came through and brought home the title. Our entire focus now is to go all the way at the next World Championships. That’s what we’re after, and we’re confident we’ll get there soon.”
Parts shortage remains key hurdle: Team coach
Ahmad Samiei
Ahmad Samiei, head coach of the Iranian student robotics team, told Iran Daily about the selection process: “These students were picked from those who had previously taken part in national and international contests and also attended specialized robotics training programs. After interviews, the top students and ideas were singled out for the Thailand competition.”
He added: “Over two months of intensive camp, the team focused on practicing and reviewing tactics for various leagues, zeroing in on building their projects and robots to show up at the competition fully prepared and bring home the best possible results.”
Samiei said the team competed in several leagues, including Line Tracing, Intelligent Warrior Robot (Sumo), Creativity, and Technical Report, and ended up with strong results. “In the Creativity (Creative Project) League, our students bagged first, second, and third in different age groups — meaning they cleaned up all three medal colors. Furthermore, in the Line Tracing League, our students took home two bronze medals.”
“Our team has picked up valuable experience in this and previous competitions. Fortunately, our members always strive to keep up with the latest global standards, and I can confidently say that, in terms of scientific ability and technical understanding, our team measures up to any other team of the same age group from other countries.”
Samiei claimed that the only real issue they face is sourcing the parts needed to build our students’ projects and robots. Due to existing restrictions, access to a wide range of components in Iran is extremely limited.
“This holds back our students, making it hard for them to carry out their ideal designs. Still, we do our best to work around this by establishing connections with other countries and finding ways to get the necessary parts. Even so, this shortage and lack of variety remain a major obstacle for us.”
To make up for these shortages, he continued, they always put the spotlight on creativity and innovation in their students’ robot and project designs, adding that “our efforts have paid off” so far.
“We’re still pushing ahead by getting our students involved in a variety of international competitions, building up their experience so they can bring home even more impressive results in the future,” he concluded.
Our rivals in Thailand stronger than before: U-17 team coach
Parisa Afshar
Parisa Afshar, coach of Iran’s under-17 student robotics team, told Iran Daily that this year’s competition, with teams from South Korea, China, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand, was held at a very high level. “We had previously faced off against some of these teams at the World Championships in China, and this time we ran into them again,” she said, adding that in her view, these teams showed up better prepared and stronger than before.
“Our boys and girls performed well in both Junior and Senior age groups, and pulled off some excellent results,” she stated.
On the selection process, she explained: “For this competition, students first took part in national contests, and the top performers were invited to join the team. After interviews, some were picked for the Asian competition. Among them, several had previously competed in the World Championships in China and earned medals there.”
She pointed out that before heading to the competition, the team members put in continuous, intensive training to show up fully ready, and in the end, they managed to bag some outstanding results.
Our lead in Thailand bigger than before: Team media manager
Reza Gholami, media manager of Iran’s student robotics team, told Iran Daily that at the 2023 Asian Championships in Malaysia, our team took home the title with one gold, one silver, and one bronze. But compared to our previous Asian win and even our runner-up finish at the World Championships in Beijing, our performance this year was better “since we ended up with a bigger points lead over our rivals”.
He noted that each year, the selection competition for Iran’s robotics team is held at Tehran University. The top finishers go on to the World Championships, with the most prestigious being the China event, organized by Beijing Institute of Technology — one of the world’s leading robotics universities. The next tier usually moves on to the Asian Championships.
He noted that for the Thailand competition, the best students were called up to a selection camp, where Iran’s previous team members from Asian contests, as well as those who had made it through internal selection, showed up and presented their ideas and designs. Ultimately, the top students and projects were picked out and sent to the World Championships.
“For Thailand, 48 students were invited to the selection camp, and from them, nine were narrowed down and chosen,” he added.