From June 30 to July 6, the coastal city of Incheon, in South KoreaIt will become one of the world's major robotics epicenters. For one week, RoboCup International will bring together teams of students, universities, and educational institutions from dozens of countries to compete in various challenges that combine artificial intelligence, programming and teamwork.
Among the many names that will travel to this World robotics competition in South Korea the one that stands out Martina TalamonaA 16-year-old student from Galileo Galilei School who is part of the Argentine delegation. Her specialty is the category of Simulated Rescue, a modality focused on designing and programming autonomous robots capable of operating in disaster environments.
A robotics world championship that brings together the best teams on the planet
The RoboCup International, to be held in Incheon, is considered one of the educational robotics tournaments most demanding in the worldEach edition brings together teams from numerous countries who compete in very different tests, but with a common goal: to promote research in automation and create prototypes that, in the medium term, can have a real impact on society.
This Asian event will include teams from all over the world in various categories, including the now classic tests of result (soccer with robotsand rescue disciplines. Robotic football tests the coordination, computer vision, and game strategy of small robots facing off on a custom-designed field, while rescue disciplines are geared towards simulate emergency situations.
Within these latter categories, Rescue Line and Simulated Rescue garner much of the attention, as they require participants to design solutions that allow a robot to... act autonomously in complex scenariosThe competition in South Korea not only rewards the fastest robot, but also the one that best interprets the environment, makes accurate decisions, and returns useful information to human teams.
For countries like those in Europe or Spain, where the educational robotics This type of world championship is gaining ground in schools, colleges, and universities; it functions as a a great showcase of trends and technologiesMany projects seen at RoboCup end up inspiring similar initiatives in educational centers across the European Union, both in terms of STEM skills and innovation applied to emergencies.
The bet on a simulated rescue at the World Cup in South Korea
The discipline in which Martina will compete, Simulated Rescue (Rescue Sim)It is one of the most technical categories in the championship. In this category, the challenge consists of developing an autonomous robot capable of moving through a virtualized environment that represents a disaster zone with mazes, obstacles and hazards for the people.
The main objective is for that robot to be able to navigate as efficiently as possible. dodging obstacles and inaccessible areasWhile simultaneously identifying critical elements of the environment, these include potential hazardous substances, areas of the terrain that could prove unstable, and, especially, the presence of victims in varying states of consciousness.
The system must be able to recognize victims and interpret their state of healthThe system automatically distinguishes between deceased, injured, and stable individuals and records this information on a map. This record goes beyond simply marking positions; it generates a graphical representation of the area, with data that can be consulted later by rescue teams.
Once the robot has completed the exploration, the platform delivers a detailed map of the scenario with the location of victims, dangerous areas, and relevant elements. This information would help human rescuers, in a real situation, to decide which sectors to prioritize, where there is a higher probability of finding survivors, and which areas should be avoided for safety.
The competition judges especially value the accuracy of the generated map, the number of victims, and elements correctly detected and the robot's ability to navigate the environment within the time limit. Simply reaching the end of the path is not enough: the system must demonstrate that it understands what it sees, interprets the data, and returns it in a way that is useful to those who would make decisions on the ground.
A young woman with international experience in robotics world championships
For Martina Talamona, this The world robotics competition in South Korea will not be his first international adventureDespite her youth, she has already participated in several high-level competitions, making her one of the most experienced participants in her category.
At 16 years old, the student from the Caballito neighborhood has accumulated titles and podium finishes in the Simulated Rescue specialtyIn 2025, she became champion of this category at the first edition of RoboCup Americas, held at the Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania (United States). That same year, she also achieved third place at the RoboCup International held in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
A year earlier he had already climbed to the top of the podium in the RoboCup 2024 Eindhovenwhere she was crowned champion in Simulated Rescue alongside her partner Ian Molina. This series of results has established her as a key figure within the Argentine delegation and has strengthened her role on the team that is now traveling to South Korea.
At the Incheon meet, Martina will compete alongside Ramiro Francavilla, another young man passionate about technology, with the support of Emanuel HamuiMartina, a student at the Inter-American Open University (UAI), serves as a technical mentor. According to Martina herself, the preparation process requires a combination of programming hours, simulation tests, and strategy analysis to respond to the rule changes introduced each year.
On a personal level, the participant acknowledges that He doesn't feel any negative pressure to keep competing.He says he enjoys the atmosphere of these international events and that the support of his family and close circle allows him to focus on learning, innovating and trying to improve on the results obtained in previous seasons, rather than on the obligation to win.
A delegation with several teams and specialized technical support
Argentina's representation in the World robotics competition in South Korea It's not limited to Martina's Simulated Rescue team. The delegation is completed by other teams that will compete in Soccer (soccer with robots) and in Rescue Linewhere circuits are also recreated that represent complex scenarios in which a robot must follow lines and overcome obstacles.
These categories include students of the IITA institute of Saltawho contribute their own approach and experience to the delegation as a whole. Together they form a group that combines diverse profiles and specializations, from hardware design to advanced programming of navigation and decision-making algorithms.
In addition to the students' work, the expedition includes the support from teachers and specialists in educational roboticsOne of the prominent names is that of the Licenciado Gonzalo Zabala, Director of Educational Robotics Laboratory from CAETI of the UAI and coordinator of the Roboliga organized by the Faculty of Information Technology.
Zabala has been involved on repeated occasions in the organization of rescue categories within RoboCup And, in the previous international edition, she was part of the organizing committee in one of the disciplines. For the world championship in Korea, she will again assume coordination responsibilities, which also reinforces the role of her institution and the region's educational community in the international robotics arena.
From their point of view, these competitions serve as a meeting point for Students from all over the world who share an interest in roboticsThey also function as a laboratory of ideas from which useful developments can emerge to improve the response to natural disasters, collapses or industrial accidents, both in America and in Europe and other continents.
Early calling, sustained effort, and a message for future generations
Martina's journey in the field of robotics didn't begin overnight. She herself recounts that her interest in technology and problem-solving It stems from her childhood. From a very young age, she was drawn to the possibility of facing challenges she had never seen before and building solutions step by step.
Between the ages of five and twelve, he attended his first robotics workshop, ChalinTechThis was a stage in which he began to familiarize himself with basic programming concepts, sensors, and mechanical structures. Over time, the tests became more complex, and when he encountered the challenge of a simulated rescue, he discovered one of the most demanding challenges he had ever faced.
The difficulty of the problem, far from discouraging her, became the main driving force for to move forward and delve deeper into the world of roboticsToday, he says he enjoys participating in these competitions and that each season represents an opportunity to improve, incorporate new technologies, and review strategies that have been successful before.
Looking ahead to the World Cup in South Korea, the young woman has set herself the goal of surpass the result obtained the previous yearHe knows that many of the general features of the Simulated Rescue category have changed compared to previous editions, which will require rethinking routes, navigation algorithms, and victim detection models.
His main motivation, he explains, is precisely to face these new challenges and adapt to the changesAt the same time, he sends a message to other boys and girls who are thinking about getting into robotics: he assures them that it is not a world reserved for geniuses, but for people who are willing to dedicate time, effort and curiosity.
In Martina's own words, “All you need to get started is desire and dedication”He insists that computer science and robotics are open fields that welcome those willing to learn, make mistakes, and try again, something that fits with the educational philosophy being promoted in numerous centers in Spain and Europe to encourage STEM vocations.
This robotics world championship in South Korea is thus shaping up to be a key event for the international educational robotics communitywhere advanced rescue solutions and robotic football projects will be tested, which, beyond the competition, serve as a field of experimentation for technologies that in the future They could be applied in real emergencies, European research centers, and training programs that seek to bring engineering closer to new generations.
