As part of the European University Alliance “COLOURS”, the students of the Alliance universities are offered a great opportunity to participate in a rapid and collaborative engineering hackathon – the International Ventspils Combat Robotics Hackathon “Combat Robotics”, March 21- 23, 2025 . If any international hackathon participants wish, there is a unique opportunity to participate in an additional activity – the Latvian Robotics Championship 2025, which will also take place in Ventspils, on March 22. , welcoming robotics enthusiasts and curious spectators. Students can participate in this championship with existing robots that they bring with them. Dream it! Make it! Test it! Share it! Problem/ challenge to be solved in the hackathon: Make a robot for the relevant section that proves to be the best combo of performance, innovation, design and technical solutions during the hackathon. Background to the Hackathon problem/ challenge: The CoLab event “Higher education and workforce in the Region” a very topical trend emerged from the business community and stakeholders who participated in the event – that regions need not just engineers, but engineers with creativity and initiative. Research and Development departments need innovative ideas and technological solutions to make the production process more efficient and innovative through the use of robotic technologies. Hackathon Objective: to allow students to apply the theoretical knowledge acquired in their studies in practical projects, to promote engineering and robotics technology development, and to encourage student collaboration within the COLOURS Alliance. Skills which will be improved: design and critical thinking, prototyping, testing, problem-solving, engineering skills, team management and communication skills. The theme of the hackathon matches the area of regional specialization: Advanced industries, manufacturing and smart technologies, electro-mechanical industry, mechatronics and automotive, and Industry 4.0. Over three exciting days, teams will: Develop their combat robots; Present their robots to a jury; Compete in a specially designed arena with eligible robots. Based on the “COLOURS” agreement, the prize fund for the Hackathon is up to 2500 EUR. It’s possible to receive valuable prizes from event sponsors. Registration for the hackathon: Open until March 18, 2025 , by filling out the application form: https://forms.gle/kDraaQ157YyMdA619 The construction will take place on-site with the given materials. To successfully implement the project, you must definitely have some basic technical skills, i.e., electrical connections will be given, you must know simple soldering, the design and implementation of the case requires the ability to draw 2D or 3D simple objects for printing, laser cutting. We will try to help within our abilities, but that is why there are 3-4 people in the team (preferably with different skills) in order to successfully implement the intended project, design.