Entry registration open! Who will be the future robot scientist gathering at the University of Tokyo Yasuda Auditorium?! Student ideas become actual teaching materials!

Human Academy Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Tomonobu Tanaka), which develops educational businesses, will hold the '16th Human Academy Junior Robot Classroom National Tournament' on Saturday, August 22, 2026, through its children's education business, 'Human Academy Junior'. Prior to the event, we are starting to accept entries for the tournament and applications for general viewing. Children who have won the preliminaries from classrooms nationwide will engage in a heated battle on the stage of the University of Tokyo Yasuda Auditorium. This tournament has been held annually since 2011 as a place for children learning at our classrooms in Japan and overseas to present their daily learning achievements. The purpose is to foster a strong interest and curiosity in science and engineering by having students nationwide deepen exchanges while sharing each other's knowledge and ideas, and by competing and polishing each other while pursuing the same goal. Eligibility is for students from preschool to junior high school who attend our classrooms. Students who have passed the preliminary screening in two categories—the 'Idea Contest', where they create original robots they have thought of themselves, and the 'Technical Contest', where they compete for the accuracy and technical ability of their robots—will gather at the University of Tokyo Yasuda Auditorium to engage in a heated live battle. Another major attraction of this tournament is the possibility that children's novel ideas will be adopted as 'teaching materials' used in actual classrooms. Last year's MVP alarm cuckoo clock robot will also become teaching material from this fiscal year as 'Cook-Clock'. In the past, popular robot teaching materials have been born from this tournament every year, such as the popular 'Robosaurus' (2nd) and 'Dungum' (4th). The dream that 'my idea might become teaching material next' further draws out the children's creativity and spirit of inquiry.