Toi Ohomai Supports Event Inspiring Young Tech Innovators

Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology ākonga (students) and kaimahi (staff) helped inspire the next generation of technology innovators at this year's RoboCup Junior National Competition in Rotorua, volunteering their time and expertise as judges.

Held at Lynmore Primary School on Saturday 1 August, the competition brought together 141 students from 47 schools across New Zealand to put their robotics, coding and problem-solving skills to the test.

Organised by the Ministry of Inspiration, RoboCup Junior is an annual nationwide robotics competition where students design, build and programme autonomous robots for challenges including rescue missions, robot soccer and creative performances. 

The competition enables rangatahi (young people) to explore science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) while developing skills in creativity, innovation, teamwork and problem-solving. 

With this year's RoboCup Junior competition taking place in Rotorua, Programme Manager - Business and IT, Sarah Lockwood, says it was a valuable opportunity for Toi Ohomai to support an event in its local community that inspires young people to explore robotics and innovation.

“Events like this provide an incredible opportunity to celebrate creativity, innovation and problem-solving while connecting our people with the next generation of technology leaders. Seeing rangatahi bring their ideas to life through robotics was truly inspiring, and it was a privilege for our staff and ākonga to support and encourage their passion for STEM and technology,” Sarah says.

Joining the judging panel were Toi Ohomai Academic Staff Members for Information Technology, Junlei Hong and Murray Foote, as well as recent Bachelor of Information Technology (IT) graduate, Nihal Dharmaraj, and final-year IT ākonga, Junko Shibazaki.

“Having current and former Toi Ohomai students involved in the judging panel was a great opportunity for them to share their knowledge and give back to the sector,” Sarah says. “All of the Toi Ohomai judges were fantastic representatives of our institute, and played an important role in making the event a success.”

Junlei judged the Open Stage category, interviewing entrants about their hardware and software designs, their approach to problem-solving, and the challenges they overcame during development. Junlei assessed projects against a set of criteria to help determine the competition winners as part of a panel of judges.

 

“With robotics technology evolving so quickly, it was awesome to see so many creative robotics systems, and enthusiastic young minds. I was amazed by the participants’ resilience and determination. For some entrants, their robots weren't working just minutes before their performance, but they tackled those challenges, diagnosed the problems and got their robots working in time,” Junlei says.

 

For a full list of 2026 RoboCup Junior winners, visit the Ministry of Inspiration website. 

Toi Ohomai is proud to support opportunities that encourage rangatahi to explore technology and future IT careers. The institute also offers an Information Technology Secondary Tertiary Partnership (STP) programme, through the Bay of Plenty Futures Academy, which gives local secondary school the chance to gain early exposure to IT and explore study and career pathways to the sector while still at high school.