RoboCup Junior New Zealand is a national robotics competition for school children. Its point of difference from many other competitions is that the robotic platform is not specified. A team may use LEGO, Vex, MBot, Mindkits, Arduino, Picaxe, Fischer Technic, TBot, basic stamp, Edison etc. The only specification is that each robot used is programmed, not remote controlled. The competition stays the same from year to year and the returning students can choose different events or improve their performance in the same event. A school can gear up once and know their investment will be useful for many years to come.

Students participating in RoboCup Junior New Zealand events may choose from On Stage, Rescue or Soccer Challenges.

RoboCup Junior is now played in over 30 countries around the world and is a regular feature of the annual university run RoboCup World Finals, where it is the largest league.

Created in a true cooperative spirit, the RoboCup Junior Educational Competition encompasses not only engineering and IT skills, but extends right across a school curriculum. RoboCup Junior also addresses social development by encouraging sportsmanship, sharing, teamwork, understanding of differences between individuals and nations, cooperation and organisational skills.

RoboCup Junior is able to extend from the classroom with a comprehensive, relevant curriculum to regional, national and international competitions.

Robocup Junior New Zealand aims to encourage school students to take an active interest in science, technology and the performing arts. It aims to develop practical and intellectual problem-solving skills and teamwork in the context of a competition where sportsmanship and participation are more important than winning. It also aims to make students aware of potential employment opportunities in high tech industries which are crucial to the ongoing development of the New Zealand economy.

Objectives

1. To encourage young people to take an interest in scientific and technological fields, by cultivating their interest in robotic competitions through hands on creation.

2. To help young people expand their social, intellectual and problem solving skills, helping them to develop into creative and independent adults.

3. To provide a forum, which will allow more people to appreciate the co-existence between science, technology and human kind.

4. To create an environment that will encourage people from all around the world to share their experience with science and technology, thereby contributing to its development.

5. The emphasis will be on learning and enjoyment rather than competing to win. Participants will be encouraged to share technological developments in order to ensure the improved quality of the competition rather than allow an individual team's dominance.

6. Robocup Junior New Zealand is an educational activity, which will nurture understanding between different nationalities via the opportunity to compete in an international robotics competition.