ITMO Student Wins Robotics World Cup in Brazil

A third-year student at ITMO, Grigoriy Sizikov showed his robotics prowess in two challenges of the Autonomous Cars League of the FIRA RoboWorld Cup 2024: Pro Technical Challenge (first place) and Autonomous Cars Pro (second place). Together with Mikhail Granatov, the founder of children’s robotics school Robozoom, Grigoriy competed against four other teams from Uruguay, Brazil, Mexico, and India. In order to perform at the tournament, the teams assembled electric driverless cars with 300-550 mm steering control systems in advance.

The first challenge included racing on a two-lane obstacle course (Autonomous Race) and an urban road with crossroads, obstacles, and traffic signs (Autonomous Urban Driving). In each race, the participants had to hit as many checkpoints as possible along each track – all designed to ensure safe driving.

The rules for the second, technical, challenge are announced once the main tournament concludes. This year, the Technical Challenge was a marathon of humanoid robots – a special track that had to be covered on a single charge of an autonomous car. The participants had to complete the marathon in natural lighting conditions, which create artifacts in camera feeds, as well as climb over stairs and slopes while obeying traffic signs. Grigoriy’s team completed the challenge in two hours, having covered a distance greater than any other team – 33 meters.

“It’s my second time at FIRA: last year, I participated in the Germany-based tournament remotely, and my team achieved the same results as this year. At the world cup, we tackle tasks related to vehicle positioning on the road surface, stable driving, obstacle recognition, obstacle avoidance, and traffic sign recognition. A separate challenge is to build a good car: for example, in the technical challenge, some teams ended up stuck on their "belly" due to a lack of suspension and sufficient ground clearance. FIRA winners receive trophies and certificates, but the greatest opportunity of the event is the chance to interact with other teams from world-class universities,” shares Grigoriy Sizikov, a third-year student of ITMO Bachelor’s program Robotics and Artificial Intelligence.

Held annually since 1996, FIRA RoboWorld Cup is an international competition in robotics for young researchers. This year, the tournament brought together 1,500 participants (300 teams) from over 20 countries. Over five days, the teams competed in challenges within 23 leagues.