RAT Open 2026: Helter Skelter V2, the RAT Run and a day of student-built robots
On Sunday 4 October 2026 the RAT Foundation held the RAT Open Platform Robotics Competition at St Andrews International School Bangkok, our partner for events in Thailand. It closed the second year of the RAT Open under the RAT Foundation, a registered non-profit in the Kingdom of Thailand.
Two dozen teams from eight schools took part, and every robot ran autonomously. Teams could use any robotics kit, platform or open-source parts they liked, as long as the robot solved the challenge on its own. No one arrived with a pre-built robot: students built, tested and fixed their designs through the day, and watching them work through setbacks was the best part of it.
Two new challenges
- Helter Skelter V2 — the spiral tower returned with a new challenge zone at the summit and, for the first time, robots had to make it safely back down to the bottom.
- RAT Run — brand new for 2026: an 11-metre obstacle course of five stations, starting with The Chop. Seven teams cleared all five stations in qualification.
The results
Helter Skelter V2
- Gold: STEAMLabs2 (STEAM Labs), who also finished as Qualification Champion
- Silver: St Andrews Green Valley VEX IQ Team 2 (St Andrews International School Green Valley)
- Bronze: STEAMLabs4 (STEAM Labs)
RAT Run
- Gold: The Big Cheese (Rugby School Thailand) — the only team to finish the final course, in 35 seconds with no penalties
- Silver: STA HS5 (St Andrews International School, Sukhumvit 71)
- Bronze: STA HS6 (St Andrews International School, Sukhumvit 71)
Judges' awards
Our judges visited every team at its table during the day. In Years 3–8, Engineering Excellence went to STEAMLabs2, Best Use of Sensors to STEAMLabs4 and Best Carer Sharer to Flopping Fish (St Andrews Green Valley). In Years 9–13, Engineering Excellence went to CMIS HS (Chiang Mai International School), Best Use of Sensors to STA HS2 (St Andrews, Sukhumvit 71) and Best Carer Sharer to Titans_1 (Amnuay Silpa School).
Every run, point by point, is on the full results page.
The schools
Thank you to the teams from Amnuay Silpa School, Chiang Mai International School, Heathfield International School, Rugby School Thailand, STEAM Labs, St Andrews International School Green Valley, and the primary and secondary schools of St Andrews International School Sukhumvit 71.
An open-platform kit with Cytron
On the day we also announced, in partnership with Cytron Technologies, the release of our open-platform robotics kit at cost price, to support STEM communities across Asia.
Thank you
Thank you to the RAT Foundation co-founders, Matt, Rob, Khun Gift and Khun Prisana; to St Andrews International School Bangkok for hosting; and to the referees, judges, volunteers, coaches and families who made the day work.
Next: 7 March 2027
The next RAT Open is on 7 March 2027 at St Andrews International School Bangkok, with the official release of our third game, Battle Bots. Registration will open for up to 50 teams — details soon on ratevents.org.