A group of elementary school students from Rudong, Jiangsu province were forced to give up their qualification for an international robotics competition, as their families could not afford the expense to travel abroad.

The four students, all from Jing’an Elementary School in Rudong, defeated their competitors from other Asian countries including Japan and India at the RoboRave Asian Contest held in February in Beijing. RoboRave, an international competition with 15 years of history in the United States, attracts thousands of students to participate each year.

“Our competitors have high-caliber skills and knowledge, while we are just rural school participants who hoped to widen our vision. I cannot believe we were able to defeat them,” Wang Yafei, the team's coach, told the Modern Express after the team's victory.

The joy of winning didn't last long, however. Participants hoping to move on to the next round are required to pay a fee of 43,000 RMB ($6,200) to take part in the final in Medellin, Colombia. According to Wang, the fee is approximately equal to the average annual income of a rural family in the region, and they could not raise the funds in time for the competition, as the deadline to sign up was March 10.

“In addition to the 43,000 RMB, we would still need at least another 10,000 to buy the necessary equipment. We saw no hope of resolving this financial problem, so we had to give up the contest,” explained Wang.

Unlike their coach, who feels real regret over the outcome, the students on the team have peacefully accepted the inevitability, noting that their parents and coach tried their best to support their hobby.

“My father told me that our family could not afford the fee, but he still did everything he could to collect the money I needed for the contest,” said 12-year-old Dai Youyue, the only female member of the team.

During an interview with the Modern Express, the kids displayed maturity and understanding beyond their years, promising that their enthusiasm for robots won't be dampened by this incident.

Established in 2015, the robotics club at Jing'an Elementary School now has 20 members. Though their resources and equipment are limited, the kids have developed a keen interest in robots. Local education authorities have expressed their intention to help the children, but the funds had not been raised as of press time.