Annual Bongo Robotics Contest
A premium Tanzanian national robotics and coding championship
Build it, race it, rank it. Teams design and fabricate a robot, race it on a skills course and climb a live public leaderboard, from regional qualifiers to the National Final.
Coming soon
Why this contest
Curious builders deserve a national stage
Tanzania has growing STEM interest and plenty of curious builders, but no consistent national competition to test their work against, aim toward, or be recognised for. Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria already run national championships. This contest is Tanzania's.
From curiosity to engineering talent
A credible, replicable pipeline that turns curious builders into competitive engineers.
A bigger stage for schools
Gives TOIO's school network a national stage to aim for.
A proof case for partners
Shows sponsors and education partners what young Tanzanian builders can do.
Skills-course racingThe format
Build it. Race it. Rank it.
Teams design and fabricate a robot, then race it on a skills course. Every run is scored on a live public leaderboard, and every edition adds to a permanent Hall of Fame.
Build it
Design and fabricate a robot. Builds are judged on design, craftsmanship and innovation.
Race it
Timed runs on a skills course: a group stage first, then a head-to-head knockout.
Rank it
Build score plus race performance, live on a public leaderboard. Champions enter the Hall of Fame.
Built on proven formats
Adapt, don't originate.
BattleBots ProLeague
Group stage → knockout
Cloudflight Coding Contest
Live leaderboard, tiered divisions, multiple host locations
FIRST Robotics
Build judged alongside performance
How it works
One season, three phases
- Aug – Dec
Prep weeks
- Teams design & fabricate at TOIO's fab lab or partner labs
- Guided by a STEAM build curriculum
- Builds judged on design, craftsmanship & innovation
- Registration and team build-checklist submissions open
- Contest days
TechFest intensive
- Group-stage runs — every team races within its group
- Top scorers advance to a knockout bracket
- Final score = build score + race performance
- National Final at The Slipway, with prizes
- Next season
After the contest
- Next year's challenge design
- Winners' support and follow-up
Divisions
Find your division
Pick the division that fits your team. Ages, team sizes and fees below are the live contest rules.
Divisions will be announced soon
Where it happens
Regional qualifiers, one national final
Regional qualifying heats run at host venues around the country, each a lightweight copy of the final's format. The top teams go on to the National Final in Dar es Salaam.
Venues will be announced soon
Scoring
How the points add up
Engineering counts as much as speed. Every team's final score blends what the judges see with what the clock says.
Build score
Judged rubric
Race performance
Out of 100
Final score
Live on the leaderboard
Build / design score
Judges score every build against the rubric. Scores are averaged across judges.
The judging rubric will be published soon.
Race performance
The fastest run in the division scores 100. Everyone else scores
100 × fastest time ÷ your best time
Example: if the fastest run is 40.0s, a best run of 50.0s scores 100 × 40 ÷ 50 = 80 points.
False starts and course violations add time to that run's result.
Bonus & knockout
After the group stage, the top scorers in each group advance to a knockout bracket. Knockout matches are head to head: the faster run wins.
Submit your buildFollow along
Every run counts, every year
A public, real-time leaderboard during every event. Numbered annual editions. A Hall of Fame that keeps every champion.
Running the screen at a venue? Open the leaderboard in big-screen mode.
Partner with the contest
Sponsors and education partners help build a credible, replicable pipeline from curiosity to competitive engineering talent, and the National Final includes a corporate & sponsor showcase. Let's talk about where your organisation fits.
Ready to build?
Gather your team, pick a qualifier and start designing.