Robots went head to head today at the Grand Final of Autonomous Robotics Competition in Sydney.
Twenty-eight teams, including five from New Zealand, took part in the event, each hoping to take home the $3000 cash prize.
Event co-founder Mark Phillips said the beauty of each robot was in its autonomous functionality.
"Versus a remote-control car where a human operator can interface and control the machine, these operators run completely on their own," he said.
New Zealander Robby Lopez - a member of the Victoria Unversity of Wellington team that took gold last year - said the competition was tough.
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"This year it's a lot different. We feel like the robots and the other teams especially are definitely a higher calibre than last year so it's been really good for the competition but for us as a team it's been a lot harder to compete," he said.
The event this year had an agriculture theme, and teams were asked to build a robot able to navigate obstacles in a farm environment to collect and deposit seeds.
Beneath the fun on the day, Mark Phillips said there were high stakes and intense focus.
"It's similar to the World Cup," he said. "So there's a group round and then a round of 16, qaurter finals, semi finals and then the grand final and after the group phase it's all sudden death so you have one bad run and unfortunately that could be it," he said.
A challenge all competitors were eager to take on.
