Nine students from four public high schools in Negros Occidental will represent the Philippines at the 2026 World Robot Games (WRG) in Chiba, Japan on Nov. 16 to 19.

The nine qualified after winning their categories in the National Robotics Competition 2026-Visayas Leg in September.

Avelyn Marañon, assistant department head of the Negros Occidental Language and Information Technology Center, told the Philippine News Agency on Sunday that the students’ participation supports the provincial government’s efforts to promote Negros Occidental as a center for youth innovation and technology development.

“This is promoting youth innovation, international cooperation, and robotics education,” she said.

The provincial government extended PHP200,000 in financial assistance to each student to cover travel, registration, accommodation and daily expenses.

They received the assistance Friday during a meeting with Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson and Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz II at the capitol.

The competing students are Deanyvien Rafaeli Paculanang of Escalante National High School, who will join the Zero Waste Challenge – Remote Control; Edjay Bryle Gemotra and John Dale Bancaya of Cabacungan National High School, who will compete in Sumobot – Autonomous; and Iohann Venice Navarro and Reiniza Kate Ulagasan of Julio Ledesma National High School, who will join the Mission Challenge – Autonomous.

Also competing are Shantelle Kate Ballesteras and Razor Chua of Cabacungan National High School in Line Tracing – Beginner, and Jhande Marie Teodosio and Joezel Articona of Ramon Torres National High School in the Project Innovative Prototype category.

Teodosio and Articona will present “Project PABAWOD” (Phytoplankton Assessment and Bagasse-based Actuation in Waste of Oil-spill Decontaminator), an autonomous robotic system designed to monitor aquatic phytoplankton and help mitigate oil spills using eco-friendly sugarcane bagasse barriers.

The WRG is an international robotics competition where students, educators and innovators showcase their creativity, engineering skills and innovations in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

To be held at Chiba Port Arena, the event will feature robotics competitions, innovation challenges and collaborative learning activities aimed at strengthening participants’ programming, engineering, problem-solving, teamwork and design-thinking skills. (PNA)