After several sleepless nights and numerous intense discussions with team members, Wu Shuhan, 11, designed a robot that beat all the other contestants in the final of the 10th China Adolescent Robotics Competition, which kicked off on Wednesday at Beijing University of Technology (BUT).

The fifth grade primary student from the Primary School Attached to Beijing Institute of Technology spent all her spare time during a semester making the robot she entered in the contest, which she described as a "very interesting and rewarding experience".

In the BUT stadium where the 2008 Beijing Olympics badminton games were held, more than 70 students from top-notch Beijing primary schools and some 1,000 primary school students from across the country participated in the competition which has five games, including robot football and First Lego League (FLL) in which the robots have to complete pre-designated tasks.

Teams from Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions also participated in the competition.

It was a fierce contest. For the football games, the robot goalkeepers moved swiftly to block strikes from their rivals. For the FLL games, robots overcame obstacles to reach the finishing point as quickly as possible.

The students who participated in the contest were all self-motivated because there was no gain to be had from competing, the objective of the competition was purely to promote innovation among students, said Lu Jilian, deputy director of the organizing committee.

He said coaches were not allowed to take part in the actual contest in order to provide a broader space for students to analyze and solve problems independently.

Since 2005, Beijing education authority has sought to shift the focus from examination-oriented education to quality education and introduced science as a compulsory class for every primary school in town.

Wang Yueren, Wu's teacher said the school taught robotics once a week.

Students who are very interested in technology and robotics can sign up for the after-class interest group where they will work together to make robots, according to Wang.

"With these classes, students now have a practical role in real projects, besides studying theory," she said.

After the project is finished, students are required to write a thesis on how it has been accomplished.

"It develops students' intelligence, logic and team-work," she said.