  RoboCup Junior is a project-oriented educational initiative that sponsors
regional, national and international robotic events for young students in
primary and secondary school. It leads children to the fundamentals of teamwork
and complex problem solving through step-by-step logical thinking using
computers and robots. The Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment at the
University of Newcastle in Australia has hosted and organized the Hunter
regional tournament since 2012. This paper presents an analysis of data
collected from RoboCup Junior in the Hunter Region, New South Wales, Australia,
for a period of six years 2012-2017 inclusive. Our study evaluates the
effectiveness of the competition in terms of geographical spread, participation
numbers, and gender balance. We also present a case study about current
university students who have previously participated in RoboCup Junior.

Other Computer Science;Computers and Society;Robotics