A global robotics competition bringing together young people from 185 countries to tackle real-world challenges through robot engineering opens in Incheon this week.
The Incheon Tourism Organization announced Tuesday that the 2026 FIRST Global Challenge will be held at Songdo Convensia from Wednesday through Saturday, drawing 186 teams from 185 countries and about 5,000 participants and officials in total.
The FIRST Global Challenge is a competition in which youth representatives aged 14 to 18, selected from each participating country, design and build robots to address shared global problems, working collaboratively across national teams to find solutions.
This year's theme is "Wildfire," with participants competing to demonstrate creative problem-solving skills rooted in robotics engineering and their capacity for cross-border collaboration.
This marks the first time the competition has been held in South Korea. Incheon city officials said they expect the event to raise the city's profile as a hub for advanced industries and a global MICE destination.
gilbert@heraldcorp.com
