World Robot Olympiad Friendship Invitational 2023 | Denmark | Odense

From September 21st to 24th, 1,200 children from 42 countries are gathered in Odense, Denmark, a hotspot for robotics, during the World Robot Olympiad (WRO).
Here, the children will tackle societal problems using robots constructed from LEGO and other materials under the theme ‘Connecting the World.’
During these days, we have witnessed the incredible ingenuity of tomorrow’s engineers and inventors in action. Children aged 6 and above have employed their creativity and skills to identify specific problem areas within this year’s theme and craft ingenious robots to tackle real-world problems, all for the betterment of their communities and the world.
“The children here may be the future key workers in the robotics industry and they may be the next inventor of the good solution for changing our world towards a better society” - says Peter Rahbæk Juel, Mayor of the city of Odense.
At this year’s World Robot Olympiad we have seen how children from all over the world work together and demonstrate their ability to think creatively as they build and program robots suited for their tasks, putting their technical, programming, and teamwork skills to the test. Children will present their ideas on how robots can solve real-world challenges such as shipping and digital technology infrastructure to be safer, more sustainable, and more efficient. On competition day judges will score each idea on the overall project and innovation, engineering and design, time on how fast the robot solves the task, and how the team works together.
The event, not only serves as a platform for the inventors and engineers of the future to showcase their talents in robotics but also offers adults valuable insight into the important societal issues that children perceive and aspire to address. At the same time, the children will have an experience for a lifetime, and many of them highlight that meeting children from so many different countries is amazing.
The event is the largest Friendship invitational tournament ever measured in the number of participants. The city of Odense has invited WRO to host the event in Odense because it signifies Odense as a robotics city. Odense was chosen among many other countries such as Canada, Italy, and the Netherlands.
The winners of the various competitions are announced on September 24th, while the youngest participant will be visiting the New Hans Christian Andersen House, and exploring the fairytale city in ‘Ville Vau’, located in a beautiful garden in the core of the city centre on Sunday 24th.
Read more about WRO-FIT: wro2023.dk/