The 12th World Robotics Sailing Championship (WRSC) is slated to be held in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province from Aug 26 to 29, local media reported.

The WRSC is open to all fully autonomous and unmanned sailing boats up to four meters in length and provides researchers with a chance to exchange ideas on their work.

This year is the first time that a city in China will host the championship, with previous events held in Austria (2008), Portugal (2009 and 2016), Canada (2010), Germany (2011), Wales/UK (2012), France (2013), Ireland (2014), Finland (2015), Norway (2017) and England/UK (2018).

The event will comprise of four parts scheduled to unfold over four days.

Teams from prestigious universities including Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Zhejiang University, University of Plymouth and University of Southampton have signed up for the event.

The accompanying International Robotic Sailing Conference (IRSC) will be held concurrently, providing an ideal venue to discuss a broad range of scientific problems involved in the design and development of autonomous sailboats.

The 12th World Robotics Sailing Championship (WRSC) is slated to be held in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province from Aug 26 to 29. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]