The team that drew the most attention at the FIRST Global Challenge was a squad of girls from Afghanistan who were twice rejected for US visas before President Donald Trump intervened.
"The gold medal for the FirstGlobal Grand Challenge award goes to Team Europe! (cheers)
There was a sea of colour as the results of he first ever international robotics challenge were announced in Washington.
Teenagers aged between 14 and 16 from 150 countries, had been competing while also showing their passion for science, technology, engineering and maths.
Teams left with gold, silver and bronze medals in a variety of categories.
While the Europe team won a gold, Poland got silver and Armenia bronze.
Finland won a gold award for earning the best win-loss record.
Silver went to Singapore and bronze to India.
There were also awards for engineering design, innovation and international unity, among others.
And then
"The silver award for Courageous Achievement goes to ...Team Afghanistan (cheers) ....
The award recognised teams that exhibited a "can-do" attitude even under difficult circumstances or when things didn't go as planned.
That was certainly the case for the five all girl members of Team Afghanistan.
They had twice made the perilous journey from Herat to the capital, Kabul, to apply, unsuccessfully for visas to the US.
Their plight made world headlines, with US President, Donald Trump, himself, intervening at the last minute to allow them emergency entry permits.
Team member Kawsar Roshan expressed her elation.
I loved the moment we entered the hall (during the opening ceremony) holding our flag alongside more than 150 countries and holding our flag high and we were the first country that entered the hall."
For 16 year old Rodaba Noori it was a proud moment.
"We were proud (of) ourselves and we tried a lot to get a position and we tried to win the game. Of course, we celebrated our win and we were so happy, all of us, we (hug) each other and we are so happy."
Kawsar Roshan says she is grateful for the opportunity.
"I just want to thank the people of America and especially those who supported us and let us come here and I'm very, very thankful for all their support."
The gold medal in the 'Courageous Achievement' category went to the South Sudan team and bronze went to the team from Oman, whose students are deaf.
The students are already thinking about next year's competition, to be held in Mexico City.
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