Tsinghua University’s Youth2Real team, led by Professor Sun Fuchun of the Department of Computer Science and Technology, delivered outstanding performances at the 2026 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2026), held this June in Vienna, Austria. The team secured first-place victories in two challenging robotic grasping and manipulation competition tracks and took home an overall bronze medal in the inaugural Real-World Embodied AI Learning Challenge.
In the “Human-to-Robot Handovers” track, volunteers handed containers to the robot from a tabletop. The robot was required to dynamically recognize object poses and physical properties, execute stable handovers, and precisely place it at a designated location. Judging criteria included task success rate, completion time, and placement accuracy under varying difficulty levels. The Youth2Real team excelled through coordinated optimization of dynamic perception, grasp point selection, trajectory planning, and safety control modules, ultimately claiming the championship.
In the “Picking in Clutter” track, robots faced highly complex real-world conditions including stacked objects, heavy occlusions, and diverse shapes. Competitors needed to identify targets from limited viewpoints, plan collision-free trajectories, and manage disturbances and recovery from failures during continuous operations. By integrating robust modules for 3D perception, grasp evaluation, sorting sequence planning, and execution control, the Youth2Real team delivered a stable and reliable system to claim victory in this category.
The team also competed in the inaugural Real-World Embodied AI Learning Challenge, which required robots to transfer capabilities from simulation to physical systems across tasks such as part righting, object grasping, and package scanning. Confronted with real-world issues such as sensor noise and actuation errors, the Youth2Real team distinguished themselves through robust system design and efficient strategy transfer, ultimately earning bronze medalist.
Team Youth2Real at the competition venue
The IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) and the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) are recognized as the two premier global events in the robotics and automation fields, with the Robotic Grasping and Manipulation Competition serving as a key highlight. With this year’s achievements, Professor Sun Fuchun’s teams have built an impressive competition record across eight participations: seven championships, one runner-up finish, and three third-place awards.
Editors: Li Han, John Paul Grima
