ERL 2026 on the beach at Scheveningen
For a small, hard-working team of robotics competition organisers and competitors, mid-May 2026 will be remembered for a frequently unpredictable, often challenging but highly enjoyable and ultimately successful European Robotics League event that took place on the sands and along the seafront at Scheveningen, in the Netherlands.
Many months in the planning, ERL 2026 was delivered against a backdrop of high winds and very changeable weather that tested the patience, ingenuity and resilience of the robotics teams and organisers alike.
Scheveningen is the seaside resort in The Hague, the Dutch capital. International teams gathered at Living Lab Scheveningen, using robots, drones, AI, and autonomous systems to tackle real societal challenges. On the first couple of days as the competitors tested their robots in a range of realistic challenges or episodes, Scheveningen had the feel of many seaside towns out of season. The promenade was mostly empty, the hotels barely half full. That all changed on Thursday when the religious festival of Ascension Day was celebrated as a national holiday in the Netherlands and in neighbouring countries. Suddenly, Scheveningen was full as families, couples and friends of all ages descended on the Dutch coast, bringing their surprise and enthusiasm as they discovered robots in operation in various locations along the seafront, especially under Scheveningen’s impressive Pier. This imposing construction extending out to the sea provided both a location for some of the ERL episodes and also the event headquarters for the organisers.
Since public engagement was one of this ERL’s objectives, with several activities organised for public interest alongside the competition itself, the arrival of crowds for the holiday weekend was perfect timing. In a specially-erected Lego marquee outside Scheveningen’s small Legoland, children learned how to build their own Lego robots, thanks to Kaspar Laks and Liina Nurmse from Robotex International, who had travelled from Estonia to put their admirable ability to engage young children with robots to very good use.
As for the competition itself, teams from France, the UK and the Netherlands gathered to test their prowess in robotics in five distinct episodes – inspection and maintenance, coastal inspection, emergency response, customer service and – in a challenge designed with Scheveningen’s sand dunes – environmental observation.
For the teams, the conditions proved challenging, with a strong wind pushing drones to collide with pillars under the Pier. So strong were the gusts that at time the episodes had to move to back-up indoor locations.
But resourcefulness is a characteristic of roboticists, and perhaps an entry requirement for anyone hoping to see their robots making progress in real-world scenarios. Inge Rehorst, euRobotics project manager and a key driver for ERL 2026 takes up the story: “It certainly wasn’t smooth sailing: wind, rain, sand, water, and an unpredictable environment provided the ultimate stress test. Visitors got a live view of what went well but also saw just how much hard work and perseverance goes into true innovation.”
As she revealed, the setbacks and workarounds were not limited to the teams. The organisers also had to find solutions for several late challenges, not least some short-notice changes to the competition line-up as a couple of teams found themselves unable to make the trip to Scheveningen. But, like the teams who did take part, Inge and her fellow organisers overcame the obstacles: “Leading up to the event, we experienced the exact same rollercoaster: one moment everything ran like clockwork, the next moment everything went wrong. The fact that we pulled it off is all thanks to an amazing team that never stopped believing and worked tirelessly to make this happen.”
To read more about the competition, public engagement programme, partners and sponsors, visit the ERL 2026 website