Innovation Award

GROMEP has won the Innovation Award at the international Eurobot 2026 competition, held in La Roche-sur-Yon (France) from 15 to 17 May. It is one of the most prominent robotics competitions in the international university sphere. The jury particularly praised the originality and efficiency of the workpiece rotation system developed by the team for their main robots, SirNut and Don Belloto. The system is based on a roller-and-slide mechanism.

This technical solution was one of the key highlights of the Design Factory team's participation in this international competition at the Alcoy campus of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV). A system that caught the attention of both the public and the jury for its creativity, precision and ability to solve one of the challenges set at Eurobot 2026 innovatively.

"It has been worth it"

Emilio Barea Sanchis, coordinator of GROMEP, stated that, with this award, they have demonstrated that "all the work we have been doing this year and in previous years, thanks to the UPV and the Design Factory programme, has been absolutely worth it and we can achieve great things".

GROMEP was the national champion in the round held at the University of Alcalá de Henares, which earned them a place to represent Spain in the international round.

The full team

The entire team travelled to La Roche-sur-Yon, comprising: Emilio Barea Sanchis, Gabriela Vanessa Dias Gamboa, Daniel Ferrándiz Romero, Juan García Rodenas, Unai Mollá Caballero, Javier Pérez Trujillo, Iván Prats Escuriola, Claudia Vidal Martínez, Laura Vidal Martínez and Pau Vaya Giner. The team's coordinating lecturer is Jaime Masiá, from the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at the UPV.

GROMEP's sponsors and partners have been Multiscan, Festo, Doryoku Tech, the Smart City Chair, the Alcoy City of Knowledge Chair, the UPV Alcoy Campus and Design Factory.

Design Factory

Design Factory is the pioneering programme of the Universitat Politècnica de València, launched in 2014. It serves as a launchpad for students' interdisciplinary projects, promotes 'learning by doing', enhances cross-disciplinary skills, and fosters mentor-student relationships. It supports teams' participation in university competitions, both nationally and internationally. It has made the UPV a leading university in Spain. This academic year, the programme comprises 65 teams made up of just over 3,000 students.