Al-Ahsa — 19 Jumada al-Awwal 1447 AH / 10 November 2025.

The Robotics Applied Technical Competition "RATC 2025" launched today in Al-Ahsa governorate, organized by the Eastern Province's General Directorate of Technical and Vocational Training and hosted by Al-Ahsa Technical College, attended by a select group of academic and technical leaders, led by Rashed Al-Zahrani, deputy director-general of the Eastern Province's General Directorate of Technical and Vocational Training, and Eng. Ahmed Al-Badnah, dean of Al-Ahsa Technical College.

During the opening ceremony, Al-Zahrani affirmed that the "RATC" competition represents a national platform that stimulates technical creativity, helping develop the skills of young men and women in robotics and artificial intelligence, noting that the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation is working to empower national talent and qualify it to compete locally and internationally within an innovation and future technologies ecosystem grounded in Saudi Vision 2030.

For his part, Eng. Al-Badnah explained that the college's hosting of the event affirms its commitment to promoting a culture of innovation and applied engineering, by providing an advanced training environment that supports skills in programming, engineering design, logical analysis and teamwork, adding that the competition gives young people the opportunity to showcase their abilities in modern technology fields.

The competition saw the participation of 150 male and female competitors from 24 educational and training institutions, including universities, institutes, colleges and secondary schools from across the Kingdom, with teams competing in exciting rounds under global VEX Robotics standards, showcasing participants' excellence in designing and programming robots and employing artificial intelligence technologies for autonomous control and precise task performance.

The competition is held under the umbrella of the Saudi Federation for Robotics and Wireless Sports, overseen by a specialized judging committee comprising a select group of experts, who evaluate performance based on innovation, design quality and programming level. It runs until 12 November 2025, amid a competitive atmosphere showcasing the scale of technical creativity Saudi youth have achieved.

Organizing this competition is an extension of the Kingdom's efforts to empower young minds and develop technical and engineering capabilities, and strengthen its presence in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence, reflecting the Kingdom's accelerating path of technological and digital transformation under Vision 2030.