MANILA: Malaysia once again made history on the international stage when two teams from the Sarawak Teacher Education Institute (IPGKS) Miri emerged champions and third place in the Future Engineers category at the 2025 World Robot Olympiad (WRO) Asia-Pacific level held in Manila, Philippines from 19 to 21 September.

Themed ‘The Future of Robots’, the prestigious tournament brought together 108 teams from 22 countries with nearly 1,000 participants including from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Germany, Turkey, the United States, India and Singapore.

Malaysia’s success was contributed by the X-UNITECH team which won the championship title, while the NOVATECH team finished in third place.

Both teams consisted of six IPGKS Miri trainee teachers, namely Vun Xiu Xuan, Alvin Kong Wei Ee, Jennissa Aing Jim, Lai Chaun Choy, Adam Syahmi Mohd Syahrizal and Muhammad Hakim Khairul Azam, with the guidance of Dr. Hu Laey Nee and Dr. Norsarihan Ahmad as well as coaches from Tesslab Robotics.

This victory marks another addition to IPG Sarawak team’s outstanding record, who also won the Robomission Senior category in Slovenia on September 5.

According to the organisers, this tournament not only tested technological and robotics engineering skills, but also served as a platform for young students to foster innovation, problem-solving skills and teamwork.

This achievement proves Sarawak's ability in strengthening Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and technological innovation, in line with the efforts of the Sarawak Ministry for Education, Innovation and Talent Development in supporting robotics education in the state. -UKASnews