South Africa has secured hosting rights for the World Robot Olympiad (WRO) International Final in 2028, marking the first time the global youth robotics competition will be held anywhere on the African continent.
Cape Town will host the event, with the Cape Town International Convention Centre confirmed as the venue for the second week of December 2028. The announcement was made jointly by WRO South Africa and the World Robot Olympiad Association.
What the International Final brings
The WRO International Final is the competition’s flagship event, pulling together the top-performing teams that have qualified through national and regional WRO competitions worldwide. Last year’s final, held in Singapore, drew 595 teams from 91 countries.
For South African students, hosting the event locally removes one of the biggest barriers to international competition: the cost and logistics of travelling abroad. Teams will be able to compete on the world stage without leaving home.
A decade and a half of growth
South Africa’s WRO journey has been building steadily since the national competition launched in 2010 with around 40 participating teams. By 2025, that number had grown to roughly 1,800 teams competing across all nine provinces.
South African educators have also become a fixture of the competition’s judging pool. Around one in four international judges at recent WRO finals have been South African, giving local teachers direct exposure to international standards that they then bring back to schools and provincial competitions at home.
WRO South Africa operates under the custodianship of the Resolute Foundation. Danie Heymans, the programme’s national organiser, said the goal now is to use the run-up to 2028 to pull more young people into robotics and STEM, particularly in communities currently underrepresented in the competition.
Government and international backing
The bid has government support. Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube welcomed the announcement, framing it as an opportunity to widen access to robotics and competitive STEM programmes for South African learners.
On the WRO side, the organisation’s Secretary General, Claus Ditlev Christensen, said South Africa’s growing participation numbers and contribution of judges had helped cement the country’s standing within the wider WRO community, and that Cape Town hosting the final was a natural next step toward inspiring more young people across the continent to engage with robotics.
What’s still to come
Organisers have not yet released the full competition programme, confirmed exact dates within that December window, or detailed participation logistics for international teams. WRO South Africa says further details will be announced as planning progresses toward 2028.
For now, the headline outcome is clear: in just over two years, Cape Town will become the first African city to host one of the world’s largest youth robotics competitions, putting South Africa’s growing STEM education push on a genuinely global stage.
