A four-member university team from Tomas Bata University in Zlín today won 3rd place at the international finals of the ABB RobotStudio World Cup competition in Italy. It advanced as the only team from the Czech Republic and competed against teams from China, Italy, and Spain. Three of the four competitors - Lukáš, Lukáš, and Kuba - are simultaneously building Robot George in our laboratory.
Lukáš, Lukáš, and Kuba have been involved in the development of the humanoid since the summer of 2025. Currently, a team of more than twenty people is working on Robot George.
International Verification of the Quality of Czech Robotics Talent
The ABB RobotStudio World Cup is a worldwide competition in industrial robot programming, held annually by ABB. The bronze against finalists from the Asian and European markets places the Czech robotics school among the world's elite in practical robotics - a discipline that forms one of the foundations of what we tackle daily here in our lab.
"These guys are among the absolute elite, not only in Europe but also in the world. Three of the four members of the team that won bronze in Italy are simultaneously building a European humanoid robot with us," says Jiří Pálka, our CEO and founder.
Talent as the Foundation of a European Humanoid Platform
Robot George targets commercial deployment in European manufacturing and logistics. We cooperate with industrial partners Continental Barum, HOPI Holding, PRECIZ, TNS Servis, and Resacs. We build the robot with an emphasis on data sovereignty - all AI runs directly on the device and no customer data leaves Europe.
"This is the reason we invite partners and investors to the laboratory. Seeing the same people work on the robot live makes a difference. The international competition verified what we in Zlín have known for a long time," adds Zdeněk Huspenina, our Chief Business Development Officer.
In the global race for industrial humanoid robots, American and Chinese companies hold the lead above all. The bronze for the Zlín university team is a unique entry for Czech robotics and proof that people capable of building and operating a humanoid in Europe do exist.