Filipino students win big at WRO Asia Pacific Open Championship 2026

Filipino students from the DepEd Olongapo City Regional Science High School 3 (RSHS3) won big at the World Robot Olympiad (WRO) Asia Pacific Open Championship 2026 held at the GMR Arena in Aerocity, Hyderabad, India.

With the theme “Robots Meet Culture,” the WRO Asia Pacific Open Championship 2026 launched the WRO STEM Entrepreneur Program (STEP), a new initiative launched by the World Robot Olympiad Association powered by Aramco.

Rather than designating a single grand champion, the said initiative named four co-equal winning teams who each received a US$5,000 award and six months of industry mentoring to scale their startup-style robotics solutions.

The RSHS3 team representing the Philippines at the WRO Asia Pacific Open Championship 2026 in Hyderabad, India, competed under the Future Innovators Senior High School and WRO Accelerator categories with their project CARED (Clinical Automation and Evaluation Device).

The student members of Team RSHS III for Project CARED are John Lee Bacoco, Ahmika Julia Reyes, and Katarina Sening Parungao, and were coached by Chester Z. Constantino and Mylene Abiva.

The team won the Grand Prize – WRO STEM Entrepreneur Award at the championship, securing a $5,000 startup fund.

According to Abiva, the award recognizes the team's ability to move beyond the traditional boundaries of a robotics competition and demonstrate the entrepreneurial potential of STEM innovation.

“As part of the award, the winning team received a US$5,000 startup fund, providing young innovators with an opportunity to further develop their concept and transform an idea generated through the competition into a potential real-world venture.”

The WRO STEM Entrepreneur Program was launched by the World Robot Olympiad Association in September 2026 as a new startup-style initiative. Powered by strategic partner Aramco, the program introduces an accelerator-style pitch platform where students can present ideas emerging from their WRO experience and explore how technology-based solutions can address real-world needs.

The RSHS3 project Clinical Automation and Evaluation Device (CARED) is an eco-friendly device set-up that automatically collects data on the patient’s well-being, providing a more efficient treatment. The project is a sustainable, efficient, low-cost, and an alternative device for expensive separated medical apparatus.

The said project will also improve both patient and health worker well-being and experience in hospitals, and is a scalable solution for both public and private medical institutions. The device has its own application to lessen bugs and for easier application debugging.

The program represents an important evolution in STEM education—encouraging students not only to build robots, but also to think as innovators, entrepreneurs, and future technology leaders.