The annual Otago Robocup Junior competition was held at North Dunedin's Elim Church, with 107 entrants fielding carefully constructed robots.
Fourteen schools had planned to attend but Wanaka's Mt Aspiring College was snowed in. Remaining entries, all from Dunedin schools, were enthusiastic and focused as their creations were put to work in assorted arenas.
The football competition involved opposing teams of two, a defender and attacker each, with a ball and goals. There was no radio control - the children who had built and programmed the robots had to watch as their creations set to work autonomously.
The search and rescue challenge had robots attempting to stay on a twisting trail before completing a task at the end.
The theatre forum was held on stage, with the robots performing to music while their creators, dressed in theme, performed alongside them.
Otago Robocup chairman Douglas Liddell said the event was a way of encouraging children to recognise and celebrate their programming and engineering skills.
He said it was a ''fun forum'' with a serious purpose, to ultimately lead children interested in technology into a career in engineering and computer sciences.
''These kids are very excited. They put a lot of effort into their robots; they put their heart and souls into them.''
Results
Junior theatre: 1, Tobias Devereux (Kavanagh College); 2, Lara Seaton, Alex Seaton and Isabelle Coe (Columba College); Jenny de la Harpe, Ethan Leitch, Holly Mein, Taisei O'Sullivan Naito (Kaikorai Primary School).
Junior search and rescue: 1, Lara Tyndall and Aaron Nelson (George Street Normal School); 2, Brooke Mitchell and C. J. Barnes (Balmacewen Intermediate School); 3, Imogene Maclean and Ella Calder (Columba College).
Junior football: 1, Rebecca Dalphin (OUCS Robotics Club). Senior theatre: 1, Amelia Wright Sear, Heather Robertson, Emily Cao and Nirhjah Selvarajah (Columba College); 2, Riley Symon, Paul Burke and Mitchell Lloyd (King's High School); 3, Charlotte Smith, Jessika Stratton and Gabrielle Trotter (Columba College)
Senior Search and Rescue: 1, Samuel Davies and Kelsey Campen (King's High School); 2, Riley Sneddon (King's High School); 3, Isabelle Keeling and Jaime Preston (Columba College).
Premier Search and Rescue: 1, Kate Truman, Ghazal Dousti, Heather Robertson and Emily Cao (Columba College); 2, Braden Smitheram (Bayfield High School); 3, Alice German and Ketaki Bagal (Columba College).
Senior Football: 1, Annabelle Ritchie and Chloe Lai (Columba College); 2, Isaac Rijlaarsdam, Shaun Tatley, Aaron Fahey (Kavanagh College); 3, William Satterthwaite (King's High School).
Programming Prize: Joint 1, Isaac Rijlaarsdam, Shaun Tatley and Aaron Fahey (Kavanagh College); Annabelle Ritchie and Chloe Lai (Columba College); Lara Tyndall and Aaron Nelson (George Street Normal School).
