Filipino students guided a robot aboard the International Space Station (ISS) using their own computer program, earning third place in the 6th Kibo Robot Programming Challenge (Kibo-RPC), an international competition that tests how well students can program robots for space missions.
Team Inflection Point of Batangas State University (BatStateU) represented the Philippines in the final round, where they controlled NASA’s Astrobee robot inside the Japanese “Kibo” module of the ISS. The team competed against student teams worldwide in tasks involving image recognition accuracy, speed, and robot movement planning.
The team is composed of third-year aerospace engineering students Howell Dela Cruz, John Royeth Samson, Ahron Martinez, Benedict Lontok, Andrew Cabile, and Amer Panganiban.
The Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) said the achievement follows the team’s second-place finish in 2024, when it became the first Philippine team to join and win in the Kibo-RPC.
A total of 738 teams from 37 countries and regions joined this year’s competition. Team Inflection Point ranked highest among 27 Philippine applicants during the preliminary round, allowing it to represent the country again in the in-orbit finals.
During the final test held on Feb. 28, 2026, NASA astronaut Christopher Williams ran the programs created by participating teams using Astrobee aboard the ISS. Teams were scored based on how many tasks they completed, accuracy, and speed.
Team Inflection Point completed four out of five tasks and scored 216.8 out of 300 points. Its result was only 1.6 points behind second-place winner Team Automen of Malaysia, which scored 218.4 points. Team iTron of Taiwan won first place with 269.9 points.
The competition included a new “Oasis Zone” feature that challenged teams to balance speed and strategy. While some routes offered bonus points, others carried time penalties that affected overall performance.
Organized by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in cooperation with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Kibo-RPC trains students to develop robot programs that could support astronauts and help with future space operations.
The program is part of the Kibo-ABC (Asian Beneficial Collaboration through Kibo Utilization) initiative, which promotes the use of Japan’s Kibo module and encourages space collaboration among Asia-Pacific countries.
PhilSA, as a member of the Kibo-ABC program, led the Philippine application process for the competition. Seven local teams submitted program entries after 27 teams applied nationwide from March 12 to May 26, 2025.
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