The BULAN team, made up of students from Nazarbayev University (NU), proudly represented Kazakhstan at ABU Robocon 2026 in Hong Kong, winning the Mabuchi Motor Award. The prestigious international robotics competition brought together leading university teams from 21 countries.
This year’s competition marked an important milestone for Kazakhstan: thanks to NU students, the country returned to the prestigious international robotics arena after a seven-year absence.
Established by the major Japanese corporation Mabuchi Motor, the Mabuchi Motor Award recognizes teams that demonstrate outstanding originality, high-quality engineering and effective integration of mechanical, electronic and software components.
The team’s journey to the international stage began on July 1 at the national selection round held as part of the Almaty Tech Cup, organized by the USTEM Foundation. After winning the national competition, BULAN earned the right to represent Kazakhstan in Hong Kong.
A multidisciplinary team of 28 NU students worked on developing and preparing the robotic solutions. They brought together expertise in mechanical engineering, electronics, programming, design and project management. Five team members represented the university and Kazakhstan at the international competition: Meiirzhan Tazdarbay, Temirlan Amangeldi, Aimedet Taufik, Farshed Ibrokhimov and Dastan Musrepov.
BULAN’s success at ABU Robocon 2026 once again highlights the strong engineering education at NU. The achievement demonstrates the potential of young Kazakhstani engineers and their ability to compete on the global innovation stage.
