Canada to Host the FIRA RoboWorld Cup & Summit 2026 in Markham, Ontario

Canada is set to take centre stage in the global robotics community. The Canadian National Robotic Society (CNRS), through FIRA Canada, will host the FIRA RoboWorld Cup & Summit 2026 from July 17 to 21, 2026, in Markham, Ontario. The championship will unfold across two venues, the Markham Pan Am Centre and York University's Markham Campus, bringing together leading researchers, student teams, and autonomous machines from around the world.

What Is FIRA?

FIRA, the Federation of International RoboSports Association, was founded in 1996 by Professor Jong-Hwan Kim of KAIST in Korea. For three decades it has stood as one of the world's longest-running robot-soccer and autonomous-robotics championships, promoting robotics through competitive events in which robot soccer is portrayed as a showcase of advanced robot technology. The FIRA RoboWorld Cup is today described as one of the biggest robotics competitions in the world, supported by regional chapters spanning Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Americas, and Australia.

The Leagues

The competition is organized around four main leagues. FIRA Sports features robot-soccer events such as HuroCup, RoboSot, SimuroSot, and AndroSot. FIRA Air challenges autonomous flying vehicles through Autonomous Race and Emergency Service events. FIRA Challenge pushes the frontier with Swarm Robots, the Wheeled Challenge, and the Mini-DRC Humanoid. Finally, FIRA Youth opens the door to the next generation with events including Sport Robots, HuroCup Junior, CityRacer, DRC-Explorer, Cliff Hanger, and Mission Impossible.

More Than a Competition: The Summit

Alongside the matches, the FIRA RoboWorld Cup Summit serves as an academic conference for sharing research results in artificial intelligence and robotics. The Summit calls for research-paper submissions on advanced robotics, intelligent systems, and robot simulations, and recognizes emerging talent through a best student paper award, presented for papers with a student as first author and delivered by a student.

Why It Matters for Canada

Hosting the FIRA RoboWorld Cup & Summit is a milestone achievement that highlights Canada's growing influence in the global robotics community. Beyond the prestige, the event creates a rare opportunity for Canadian youth and students to compete, present research, and learn alongside international peers on home soil. It reflects the CNRS mission of advancing the positive impact of robotics, fostering international collaboration, strengthening the robotics industry, and raising public awareness, in the spirit of its #RoboticsForGood values. The 2026 edition is led by the Canadian National Robotic Society and FIRA Canada under the direction of Samia Karimi Dastjerdi, Director of CNRS and President of FIRA Canada. Building on Canada's first FIRA competition, organized by CNRS in Vancouver at Simon Fraser University, Markham 2026 marks the country's most ambitious step yet on the world robotics stage.