The team included two final-year school students Alexander Syrkovsky from Lyceum No. 533 and Stepan Muravyov from the CTE School, musician Artemiy Navrotskiy, and Daria Yablunina, a first-year student at ITMO’s Faculty of Control Systems and Robotics. All are members of ITMO’s Youth Robotics Lab and are weathered participants of national and international competitions. The team was coached by Igor Lositskiy, the head of ITMO’s Youth Robotics Lab; he was also assisted by Evgeny Zavarin, an engineer at the laboratory. 

The students presented their robot within the category RoboCupJunior OnStage Secondary that brings together robots that can dance, play different instruments, perform plays, or take part in artistic installations. In this category, judges evaluate the creative, innovative, and entertainment aspects of a robot, its overall performance, and how it interacts with people and other robotic contestants. 

The team from ITMO with their coach Igor Lositsky at Robocup Asia Pacific 2025. Photo courtesy of Igor Lositsky

The team from ITMO with their coach Igor Lositsky at Robocup Asia Pacific 2025. Photo courtesy of Igor Lositsky

ITMO’s team joined the tournament with their two-year project – a saxophonist robot named Fantastic Robby Brown. The robot plays one of the most complex instruments in terms of sound-making; each part of its body has its own controller, all managed by a central one that instructs them to switch animation and playing modes. 

For this performance, the team used two laptops and a Raspberry Pi microcomputer connected via Bluetooth. An animated screen responded to the saxophone’s music and human movements in real time, while receiving commands from one of the laptops. The robot recognized movements and gestures, as well melodies and the algorithm for musical improvisation. 

To “teach” Robby Brown to play the saxophone, the students had to develop not only a complex system for pressing buttons but also a unique way of supplying air into the saxophone. Moreover, the robot demonstrates human-like behavior on-stage: it can spin in a chair, move its hands, head, and eyes, as well as blink and smile.

“We threw a jazz battle between our robot-saxophonist and one of the team members, Artemiy Navrotskiy, who had learned to play the instrument for many years at a music school. The robot repeated the melodies, improvised, and played Rio Rita and Tico-Tico. Also, they competed in who will perform Flight of the Bumblebee by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov faster; and surprisingly, the robot eventually won,” says Igor Lositskiy, the team’s coach and the head of ITMO’s Youth Robotics Lab.

In the future, the team is planning to incorporate AI into the robot to enhance its improvisation skills with musicians across different genres. 

Robocup Asia Pacific is an international robotics competition for students from the Asia-Pacific region. This year’s championship took place on November 10-15 in Abu Dhabi. Over 700 participants from 20 countries participated in the contest’s eight major leagues and 15 subleagues. Robots played football, delivered goods, and showed their potential in search and rescue operations.

In August 2025, the robotics team from ITMO also took first place at RobotChallenge 2025 in Beijing. The project of ITMO’s Youth Robotics Lab is implemented jointly with the Presidential Physics and Mathematics Lyceum No. 239 at ITMO University.