Winners of the ITFOR Award at the National Selected Elementary School Student Programming Tournament Present Their Award-Winning Work at Our Company
ITFOR Inc. invited the 'Plantrix' team from Ishikawa Prefecture, who won the 'ITFOR Award' at the programming tournament, to their headquarters. On April 3, the team presented and demonstrated their plant-communicating robot, 'cyber plant neo'.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 6, 2026 at 23:50
- 🔍 Collected: April 6, 2026 at 15:30
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 21, 2026 at 00:36 (345h 6m after Collected)
ITFOR Inc. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, President and Representative Director: Koji Sakata) announces that it invited the Ishikawa Prefecture representative team 'Plantrix', who won the 'ITFOR Award' at the National Selected Elementary School Student Programming Tournament held on March 8, 2026, to the company and held a presentation of their award-winning work 'cyber plant neo' on April 3.
## ◆Background
The 'National Selected Elementary School Student Programming Tournament', sponsored by the National Newspaper Business Council, is a national contest aimed at fostering the creativity and problem-solving skills of elementary school students, who will lead the next generation, through programming. At the 2025 national tournament, 55 members from 46 representative groups from each prefecture gave presentations under the theme of 'Everyone's Future'.
Our company agrees with the purpose of this tournament and has been supporting it as a Gold Sponsor since fiscal 2023.
## ◆About the Winners and the Award-Winning Work
The 'ITFOR Award' was won by the team 'Plantrix', consisting of three members: Ema Fukuura, a 2nd grader (rising 3rd grader) at Kanazu Elementary School in Kahoku City, Ishikawa Prefecture, Ali Kabakuri, a 4th grader (rising 5th grader) at Nanatsuka Elementary School in Kahoku City, Ishikawa Prefecture, and Yui Nakamichi, a 4th grader (rising 5th grader) at Inoue Elementary School in Tsubata Town, Ishikawa Prefecture. The award-winning work, 'cyber plant neo', is a robot that can communicate with plants. In addition to this original idea, the mechanism of detecting signs emitted by plants with sensors to prepare the optimal environment had a high affinity with our company's efforts in smart agriculture, which led to this selection and evaluation.
## ◆About the Winners' Office Visit Event
On April 3, a presentation was held at our headquarters, and about 120 people from our bases nationwide, including Okinawa, and group companies in Ishikawa Prefecture participated through the venue and remote streaming. In addition to the same presentation as on the day of the tournament, an actual demonstration of 'cyber plant neo' was held, demonstrating how it moves along a line, reacts to light, and notifies a smartphone app when an abnormality is detected. In addition, an explanation using the actual device was given for 'Neo Forest', which visualizes the state of plants through a camera by installing it in a forest. Warm applause was sent from the audience to the winners who did their best to complete the presentation despite being nervous.
During the Q&A session, questions regarding the background and ingenuity of the development, such as 'How did you divide the roles?' and 'Which function was the most difficult to create?', as well as questions about future prospects, were gath...
## ◆Background
The 'National Selected Elementary School Student Programming Tournament', sponsored by the National Newspaper Business Council, is a national contest aimed at fostering the creativity and problem-solving skills of elementary school students, who will lead the next generation, through programming. At the 2025 national tournament, 55 members from 46 representative groups from each prefecture gave presentations under the theme of 'Everyone's Future'.
Our company agrees with the purpose of this tournament and has been supporting it as a Gold Sponsor since fiscal 2023.
## ◆About the Winners and the Award-Winning Work
The 'ITFOR Award' was won by the team 'Plantrix', consisting of three members: Ema Fukuura, a 2nd grader (rising 3rd grader) at Kanazu Elementary School in Kahoku City, Ishikawa Prefecture, Ali Kabakuri, a 4th grader (rising 5th grader) at Nanatsuka Elementary School in Kahoku City, Ishikawa Prefecture, and Yui Nakamichi, a 4th grader (rising 5th grader) at Inoue Elementary School in Tsubata Town, Ishikawa Prefecture. The award-winning work, 'cyber plant neo', is a robot that can communicate with plants. In addition to this original idea, the mechanism of detecting signs emitted by plants with sensors to prepare the optimal environment had a high affinity with our company's efforts in smart agriculture, which led to this selection and evaluation.
## ◆About the Winners' Office Visit Event
On April 3, a presentation was held at our headquarters, and about 120 people from our bases nationwide, including Okinawa, and group companies in Ishikawa Prefecture participated through the venue and remote streaming. In addition to the same presentation as on the day of the tournament, an actual demonstration of 'cyber plant neo' was held, demonstrating how it moves along a line, reacts to light, and notifies a smartphone app when an abnormality is detected. In addition, an explanation using the actual device was given for 'Neo Forest', which visualizes the state of plants through a camera by installing it in a forest. Warm applause was sent from the audience to the winners who did their best to complete the presentation despite being nervous.
During the Q&A session, questions regarding the background and ingenuity of the development, such as 'How did you divide the roles?' and 'Which function was the most difficult to create?', as well as questions about future prospects, were gath...