STEM push accelerates as local students take on global robotics stage

Macau is accelerating efforts to strengthen science and technology education as schools, universities and policymakers work to build a pipeline of local talent in robotics and artificial intelligence (AI). At the forefront of that shift are students from The International School of Macao (TIS), whose robotics team recently won the Design Award at the 2026 VEX Robotics World Championship in St. Louis.

The win also comes amid a broader policy push to integrate STEM into classrooms across Macau. The Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) has begun introducing AI and robotics into primary and secondary curricula, while the University of Macau (UM) is restructuring to expand its science and technology faculties.

At TIS, the robotics program has grown quickly from modest beginnings. “Three years ago, our robotics program began as a shared vision among a few ambitious students,” said Robert Flower, a secondary computer science teacher and robotics coach at the school.

“We were building from the ground up, one line of code and one screw at a time.”

Students said the early phases of the robotics club were highly self-directed, with long hours spent studying competition footage, reading advanced research papers and testing basic designs.

Over time, those efforts translated into steady gains in performance and technical sophistication.

The team now operates with a structure similar to a professional engineering group. Members take on specialized roles, including builders, coders, strategists and “notebookers,” who document the design process in detail. “It’s more like a scientific journal,” said Uraraka Hong, a student who served as the notebook keeper for team 85301X No! during the recent competition. “So basically, in this notebook, we explain our design choices,” she said.

Amy Li, a TIS technology educator and robotics mentor, told the Times that the notebook serves a deeper purpose. “It’s like proof that their work is theirs,” she said. “So later on, if someone were to look at their journal, they could replicate it.”

These engineering notebooks can extend to hundreds of pages and include design decisions, data collection and iterative testing. Students follow a formal engineering design cycle, moving from problem identification to research, planning, prototyping and evaluation. “If it’s bad, we go back to the first step,” team captain Rocky Leong said.

Although AI is becoming more prominent in education, students and their mentors said its use is tightly restricted in competition. “Basically, we don’t really use AI,” Leong said, noting that most applications are prohibited. Flower added that while AI could “accelerate” processes, “it wouldn’t increase understanding,” which he said reflects the spirit of the competition.

As Leong explained, preparation for each season begins when a new game is released, typically in May. From there, teams spend months prototyping and refining their robots, often redesigning them multiple times based on testing and observations of other teams.

That preparation ultimately culminates in intense competition. At the world championship, students described working late into the night to refine strategies and analyze opponents. “We were analyzing matches at three in the morning,” said Leong.

Participants also emphasized that the competition experience extends beyond technical achievement. All members of the team pointed to communication and teamwork as the most valuable skills developed through robotics. “For me, it’s collaboration and communication,” one student, Nathan Kuai, said. “These are the two biggest skills that you can take from robotics. And I think it’s more important than the actual technical skills.”

The international dimension of the competition was also a defining feature. Students said they collaborated with teams from Asia, North America and elsewhere, forming alliances and sharing ideas despite language and cultural differences. “There’s people around the world, but everyone’s trying to do the same thing,” Leong said. “We can all relate to each other.”

That collaborative approach has also extended into the local community. Over the past year, TIS students organized a STEM Day event that drew more than 160 younger participants. Led by students, the initiative introduced children to robotics, coding and 3D modeling.

“For me, it’s about giving back to the community,” Leong said. “I just want to give this learning opportunity to kids that maybe they’re not that interested in. But after that, I really hope that if they’re really interested, they get to pursue it.”

Students and educators said such outreach reflects a broader shift in Macau, where access to digital skills was once limited. Greater exposure to robotics and coding is helping reduce barriers and encourage wider participation.

The team’s activities also rely on community support. Competitions hosted at TIS have attracted dozens of regional teams and depend on volunteer judges and organizers, including university students from the Macau University of Science and Technology and the Macao Polytechnic University. “Without volunteer judges and people helping, there’s no way we could put on this event,” a coach said.

Educators say the program shows how technical training can be paired with leadership development. Flower said the most significant outcome is not the robot itself, but the culture students have built. “The most important thing we built this year wasn’t a robot,” he said. “It was a culture.”

For many students, that experience is already shaping future plans. Several team members said they intend to pursue degrees in engineering, computer science or data science, citing robotics as a key influence.

Their success at the VEX World Championship, educators said, signals that Macau’s investment in STEM education is beginning to deliver results and that local students are increasingly able to compete on a global stage.