October 24–25, 2025: What began as weeks of testing, redesigning, and collaboration led to a moment of recognition for two Ashesi student teams at the 2025 Ghana Robotics Competition held at the University of Ghana. The two teams, Assemble and Autobot, competed in the Engineers’ League Category. Team Assemble finished first, while Team Autobot placed third and took home the award for Best Robot Design.

Organized by Firefly IO in collaboration with the School of Engineering Sciences at the University of Ghana, the competition required participants to use a 3D-printed robot (Xplore Bot) enhanced with an attachment designed and built by themselves to address selected issues related to sustainable development. As part of the challenge, participants had to fix a broken bridge, construct essential structures such as schools and hospitals, and collect waste scattered across a simulated miniature city within a stipulated time.

With the aim of introducing students to the engineering considerations behind Sustainable Development Goals 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) and 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), the tasks had two playing modes: Autonomous and Manual. Each task began with a one-minute autonomous period, where robots were required to execute tasks entirely on their own, without any input from the teams, before switching into manual mode. For both teams, the interaction between testing, strategy, and teamwork played a significant role in their progress over the weeks leading to the competition. Their preparation also drew on learnings from the previous year, particularly the importance of an early start.