The winning team in the 2013 RoboCup, from a high school in Rehovot, Israel. Photo: Provided photo.

JNS.org – A team of 9th-graders from a high school in Rehovot, Israel, won the RoboCup 2013 international robotics competition in Holland with their robotic re-enactment of a Jewish wedding, returning to Israel on Wednesday night with the first-place trophy.

The competition included contestants from more than 40 countries, including the U.S., Australia, Slovenia and Turkey. The students had been tasked with creating robots to act out one of three scenarios: A soccer match between a pair of two-person robot teams, a choreographed dance, or a rescue robot that can identify victims at disaster scenes and navigate to safety.

“We [the students and I] built bride and groom robots that, using sensors, know to enter the wedding canopy and start dancing. The robots we built are considered tall, at 1.3 meters [4 feet], and that also impressed people in the competition,” said Sarit Zaltsman, the teacher in charge of the robotics division at the high school, according to Israel Hayom. Zaltsman accompanied her students throughout the competition.

“Our robots were well constructed, I know this will help me in the future,” student and team member Daniel Golub said.