RoboChallenge 2026: Team Georgia's Sumo Robots Finish Their Run

Team Georgia's run in the sumo robot categories is over. At RoboChallenge 2026 in Bucharest, Romania, Georgia was represented by two teams: RageByte in Mega Sumo (3 kg) and Kokadama in Mini Sumo. Along with wins and experience we unfortunately also met disputed refereeing decisions and technical problems.

Both categories were very large: 63 robots from 14 countries entered Mega Sumo, and 269 robots from 16 countries entered Mini Sumo. A group stage comes first, and the best two robots of each group go on to the final stage.

RageByte finished Group 5 in first place — two wins and one defeat (rounds won 4:3), ahead of PHOENIX (Robotu Skola, Latvia), Shogun (Nanolabs, Romania) and AzeRobot (AIRO 2026, Azerbaijan) — and went through to the final stage, which was played as a knockout: one defeat and you are out. We told the story of the group fights separately: Team Georgia in the final stage: RageByte tops its Mega Sumo group.

The final-stage match against ONl of the Romanian team Nanolabs was tense from the start. The opponent's robot could not start, and the reason given was interference from our robot's sensors. After several attempts the question of disqualifying our team was raised, and the team could no longer continue.

We appealed the result, but the decision did not change and RageByte was out of the competition (the official table records the match as 0:2 to ONl).

In Mini Sumo, Kokadama competed in Group 37 together with MK10 (Polish Bison Team, Poland), Guzmancito (CR-ITTLA, Mexico) and Dagestan (TechForge, Romania). Kokadama took second place in the group stage, but could not continue: the results of two matches that had been won under the championship's rules were cancelled.

1. In one match the opponent's robot failed to start four times. Under the rules two such failures in a row meant a defeat, but the opponent was given another chance, and we lost the restarted fight.
2. In the other match, after two rounds won and the win counted, the opponent asked for a rematch. The reason given was that its robot had detected another object and could not focus on ours. As a result the win that had already been counted was cancelled.

After these two decisions the official table put Kokadama third in its group, and it did not reach the final stage.

The Georgian Robotics Association has filed complaints on every one of these issues and given the organisers photo and video evidence. The issues are under review, but according to the organisers the results will not change.

We believe these decisions took away our teams' chance to fight for a better result. It matters to us that the rules apply to every participant equally and consistently.

The official results are on the championship's website: Mega Sumo (3 kg) and Mini Sumo.

Thank you to RageByte — Dachi Nazrishvili, Eto Chakhvashvili, Misho Kalandarishvili and Nini Gotsadze — and to Kokadama — Konstantine, Kakhaber and Davit Kvaratskhelia and Maia Tsulaia — for their hard work, their resilience and for competing in Georgia's name! We bring home wins, valuable experience and the motivation to come back even stronger. Read about Kokadama's combat robots here: Kokadama reach the quarterfinal.

Main supporters: the University of Georgia and Tegeta Robotics.

Supporters: Arte, Ialonix, the Energy Efficiency Centre (EEC Georgia) and Tbilisi Digital School.

Special thanks to our supporters, every donor and every fan! With your help our teams were able to represent Georgia on the international stage. We will come back even stronger!

Want to build your own sumo robot? Start with our guides: my first robot and how to build a sumo robot.