8th Preiļi Robotics Championship stage of the 18th Latvian Robotics Championship held

10 February 2026

On 31 January 2026 the 8th Preiļi Robotics Championship stage (PRC 2026) of the 18th Latvian Robotics Championship was held at the Jānis Eglītis Preiļi State Gymnasium (JEPVĢ).

This year’s competition had participants from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland, with 28% of all participants coming from Lithuania. 488 robot teams from 77 institutions/organisations/clubs took part in the competition. This year 91 prizes from sponsors and supporters were won and presented during the competition, and 29 sets of cups and 3 special prizes were awarded!

The event was traditionally hosted by Kristaps Skutelis, a popular blogger, new-technology enthusiast and expert, and the originator and editor-in-chief of the technology blog Kursors.lv.

At the start of the competition the participants were welcomed by the director of the Jānis Eglītis Preiļi State Gymnasium Skaidrīte Ūzuliņa, the chairman of Preiļi Municipality Council Aldis Adamovičs, the head of the Latgale Regional Development Agency Māris Bozovičs, the chairman of the board of the association “Mans robots” and long-standing supporter of Latvian robotics Vitolds Bīriņš, the head of the Preiļi Robotics Club and deputy director of JEPVĢ Juris Erts, and the chief referee of the Preiļi Robotics Championship Armands Upenieks, and at the close the participants of the championship were greeted with a musical performance by the JEPVĢ instrumental ensemble!

This year new events were introduced at the Preiļi championship – the Relay race and Minisumo RC.

In the Relay race a team consists of 2 participants with robots. The first participant’s task is to pick up the relay object and, following the line, deliver it to the changeover point, and the second robot has to receive the relay object and, following the line, deliver it to the finish.

The Minisumo RC competition uses the same robots as Minisumo, only modified so that they can be driven with a remote control. We introduced this event so that participants could earn the right (a ticket) to take part in the competition in Japan.

In previous years there were demonstration matches of Megasumo robots, but this year there was also a Megasumo tournament, in which 8 participants from Latvia and Lithuania took part. The Megasumo competition is also organised with the aim of promoting this event and gaining the opportunity to take part in the competition in Japan.

Another novelty this year was the Robot battles 907g robot competition, an event in which the robots are driven by remote control. Robot battles are one of the best-attended and most spectacular events. This year robots of three weight categories could fight – 200g, 454g and 907g.

In cooperation with Tomega Ltd and the Sigulda Youth Creativity Centre, VEX IQ competitions were organised at the championship, in which participants have to solve prepared tasks. In cooperation with FLL representatives in Latvia, an FLL event was organised in which participants build and programme a robot that carries out various game missions.

In cooperation with the Ādaži drone school “Robopilots” and Normunds Masaļskis, a drone competition was held in the sports hall during the championship.

The Preiļi championship was attended, and its organisation joined, by Latvia’s best robot builders, who have been winners of championships in Estonia, Lithuania, Austria, Romania, China, Japan and elsewhere.

The competition could certainly not take place without the many volunteer helpers and referees! Special THANKS to: the chief referee of the competition Armands Upenieks; Gundars Miezītis for compiling the tournament tables; the chief referees of the competition events: line following and dragrace – Matīss Dambītis, folkrace – Kārlis Berkholds, Lego sumo – Dāvis Kundziņš, mini sumo, minisumo RC and iRobot sumo – Einārs Deksnis, Glorija Balinišķīte, freestyle – Vitolds Bīriņš, Robot battles – Edgars Skruodis, FLL – Sandijs Krastiņš, VEX – Edgars Bajaruns, WeDo – Mareks Briška and the drone competition – Normunds Masaļskis.

This year too, Jānis Bērziņš, who represents the “JJ Robotics” team, organised a quiz for pupils – Jānis had prepared tricky questions, and the most knowledgeable or luckiest participants received special Lego-part prizes provided by Jānis and sweets provided by the Preiļi company “Pie torņa” for their correct answers!

Members of the Preiļi Robotics Club managed to achieve good results in several events:
Andrejs Gžibovskis won – 1st place in Lego line following, 1st place in Lego Folkrace, 3rd place in the Folkrace PRO group
Kārlis Rečs and Andrejs Gžibovskis 2nd place in Lego line following
Andrejs Gžibovskis and Kārlis Rečs 1st place in the Relay race
Mareks Pauniņš won 2nd place in iRobot sumo
Daniels Deiko won 2nd place in the Mini sumo pupils’ group
Haralds Teirumnīks won 1st place in the Folkrace pupils’ group

THANK YOU to Matīss Dambītis and Kārlis Pīgožnis for preparing the pupils for the competition and for helping to organise the robotics championship.

THANK YOU to all the pupils, technical staff and teachers of the Jānis Eglītis Preiļi State Gymnasium for the volunteer work they did in organising and running the competition and tidying the premises after it!

THANK YOU to the supporters of the PRC – Robotu Skola, MikroTik, Tevale, ZZDats, Lightguide, Baltijas Informācijas Tehnoloģijas, Acer for Education, Volmārcentrs, Robopilots, Lemona, LETERA, Tomega, Starptautiskā Inovāciju Skola, Uzdevumiem.lv, SensusLab, Kursors.lv, Kaija, Pie torņa, SOBOTZ, Good Kichen, the association Mans robots, the Latgale Regional Development Agency, JJ Robotika, Robotiem.lv, the Preiļi Municipality Children and Youth Centre, Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, Latvijas finieris, the Sigulda Municipality Youth Creativity Centre, the association FIRST LEGO League Latvia, TSI, Latgales finanšu konsultācijas, LMT, Proline-D, Interreg, photos by Ieva Babre, and others.

Information about PRC 2026:
https://ieej.lv/prc2026

The whole course of the Preiļi Robotics Championship can be watched in the YouTube live-stream video recording: