Perhaps more importantly to regular readers of KrisTech Robot Magazine, robot contests are fun to enter, with a helluva lot of work thrown in.
Contests are also an excellent way to build one's robot design and construction skills.
Benefits of Entering Contests Anne Wright , speaking at the Fourth Annual Firefighting Home Robot Contest , listed four benefits of contests. Focus On Integration Contests force one to use a multi-disciplinary approach to solve a particular problem. Many of us have weak areas that we tend to generally ignore. However, competition goads us to also work at whatever it takes to make our robot perform well. If nothing else, contests are great eye openers in the myriad ways that a problem can be solved.