Call for team participation in the 2^nd Kibo Robot Programming Challenge (Kibo-RPC)

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will host a programming competition involving free-flying robots^*1 of JAXA and NASA in ISS/Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) known as "Kibo".　JAXA is pleased to announce that the call for team participation has been open.

This competition sets some tasks/obstacles to solving in the Kibo module as a game space. The participants create programs to operate free-flying robots in ISS/Kibo and complete a mission.^*2 The competition will entail a time requirement and problem-solving ability.

The team who won the Preliminary Round (domestic round) held in their country using the simulator for this competition on the ground can participate in the Final Round which will be held on-board Kibo module. The Preliminary Round will be around June 2021 and the Final Round will be around September 2021. Students who are interested in this competition, check the following website.

Entry details and application	https://jaxa.krpc.jp (English) https://jaxa.krpc.jp/index_ja.html (Japanese)
Deadline	May 16, 2021 at 23:59 (JST)
Entry Qualification	Students up to graduate school students in Kibo-ABC*3 member countries including Japan.

Reference

1^st Kibo-RPC video (digest version)

*For the 1^st Kibo-RPC, 313 teams and 1168 student participants from 7 countries/regions participated in, and 7 teams who won the preliminary round went on to the Final Round.

This activity is based on Japan-U.S. cooperation through the Japan-US Open Platform Partnership Program (JP-US OP3). In order for JAXA and NASA to expand Kibo utilization in the Asia-Pacific region, an education program for operating robots and computer programming is being offered to students in Japan and the Asia-Pacific region.

• *1 An autonomous flying robot intended to support astronauts (taking photos, etc.)
• *2 Participants shall create programs to move the free-flying robot autonomously using the virtual simulator provided by JAXA and NASA.
• *3 Asian Beneficial Collaboration through Kibo Utilization (Kibo-ABC) is a collaborative initiative under the framework of the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF). It aims to promote Kibo utilization in the Asia-Pacific region, and Kibo-RPC is a part of Kibo-ABC activities. Prospective participants must submit an application form to the space agency/designated organization of their Kibo-ABC member country participating in the Kibo Robot Programming Challenge.
  Kibo-ABC
  APRSAF