This year marked the fifth consecutive year of RoboCup Junior, an annual hands-on robotics tournament for middle and high school students hosted by Duke, and the competition was fierce.

"The level of competence from teams is definitely going up," said Professor Jeff Forbes, organizer of the event. "Students are working on more interesting problems, and doing a great job tackling them." Fifteen teams competed this year, including local North Carolina schools and visiting teams from other states.

Prior to the tournament, Duke undergraduates visited Durham schools once a week for months to prepare students for the competition and teach related math and science concepts. The teams then arrived at Duke on Saturday, April 2, prepared to compete with their robots in one of four events: soccer, search and rescue A or B, or dance.

On the big day, students in the LSRC hovered around robots navigating the obstacle course for search and rescue, biting their nails, groaning and cheering as their parents stood nearby shouting words of encouragement. Others filled the hallways preparing for additional events, crouched over their creations, making last-minute adjustments.

"I was really impressed with the level of competition this year," says Brook Osborne, a coordinator of the event. "The students were all pretty invested in the final product. It's great to see such hard work pay off!" This year, Durham Public Schools took home top honors in three events, and Mercersburg Academy of Pennsylvania won the fourth.