RoboWars 2026 at City St George's

The inter-university robot combat competition was organised by the IEEE City St George's Robotics Society, and joined by King’s College London and the University of Westminster.

The cherished annual competition took place on Wednesday 1 April at City St George’s, University of London and did not disappoint.

Preparation, preparation, preparation

In the weeks leading up to the competition, participants attended a series of workshops covering everything from computer aided design (CAD), through to physical build and testing. Students arrived with vastly different levels of experience, which was exactly the point.

The workshops were an opportunity for students to get to grips with the realities of engineering under constraint, working out why something might look perfect on paper, but may not behave as expected. Then figuring out how to fix it before time ran out.

For many, the workshops were where the real learning happened, long before the first bout was ever fought.

The competition

The competition proved to be an electrifying clash of engineering brilliance. Sparks flew, circuits strained, and machines were tested to the limits of design and resilience in a spectacle of controlled intensity.

It featured student teams from across London competing in a structured knockout tournament, followed by an awards ceremony and networking.

Robots of all shapes and styles clashed across the series of bouts, each machine reflecting the ingenuity and effort its builders had invested over the preceding weeks. Some went in fast and aggressive; others were built to absorb punishment and outlast their opponents.

The competition was judged by Professor Asa Barber, Department of Engineering, School of Science & Technology, at City St George’s, University of London; Dr Saumya Reni, Senior Lecturer in Computer Science and Engineering, University of Westminster; and Professor Golnaz Badkobeth, Head of the Department of Computer Science, School of Science & Technolgy, City St George’s.

The winning team from City St George's included Sulaimaan Sadiq, Idris Mahamed and  Abdurahman Mohamed.

They received their winners award from Professor Bashar Nuseibeh, Executive Dean of the School of Science & Technology at City St George’s, who joined the University in March 2026.

Dr Soheil Ahmadi is a Student Teaching Assistant at the Department of Engineering at City St George’s. He leads the delivery and development of its extra-curricular activity programme, which is designed to strengthen students’ transferable skills, industry readiness, and improve student satisfaction. The programme includes the annual RoboWars competition. Dr Ahmadi reflected on this year’s event:

I am delighted to see how widely recognised City St George’s Department of Engineering has become for the quality and impact of its extracurricular activities. RoboWars 2026 is a perfect example of how these initiatives bring together students, academics and partner universities across the UK, creating memorable hands-on learning experiences beyond the curriculum.

The strong social media presence of our student societies has also been highly effective in inspiring passionate prospective students, many of whom mention at open days that they discovered us through these activities. This success reflects our students’ enthusiasm and the visionary support of our Head of Department, Professor Asa Barber, in investing in student learning, satisfaction and achievement.