Otonga Primary School teacher Paulien Gray, who also went along to watch the competition, said the school had purchased equipment and would be looking to enter next year's event.
"We are always looking for things to inspire the kids and these little guys thrive on competition," she said.
Sportsmanship and competition were prominent throughout the RoboCup event as the 27 students, competing in teams, battled it out with their robots in junior and senior dance and rescue categories.
The dance section saw the robots move on a stage, carefully choreographed to music, with some of the participants also dancing along.
The rescue section had the robots follow a complex path through an imaginary disaster zone where they were expected to push an aluminium can out to safety.
The robots needed to be programmed to run without assistance during the demonstrations.
Waiariki Institute of Technology programming and robotics lecturer Shelley McGowan said she had received interest from a number of local schools about developing programmes in their schools for next year.
She said teachers from around the Bay of Plenty had participated in robotics training courses held at the institute last month.
"You don't have to be experts. It's about giving it a go," she said.
The senior dance section was won by the Pocket Protectors team from Sacred Heart Girls' College, with the Spare Parts team from Otumoetai Intermediate School taking away the junior division.
The Code Monkey's team, also from Sacred Heart, won the senior rescue division.
The winning teams will have their travel expenses paid for by RoboCup to represent their schools at the national competition in Wellington next month.
