Vietnam finished as the first runner-up at an international annual robot competition that concluded Sunday in Hong Kong.

Six Vietnamese students managed to beat their Japanese rivals in the semi-final round before fighting against the Chinese team in the final yesterday at the 2012 Asia-Pacific Robot Contest.

Their technical mistakes in the last encounter, however, prevented the Vietnamese team from winning the innovation contest intended for college students across the Asia-Pacific region.

Japan and Thailand both collected the second runner-up award.

Hong Kong was presented with the “Best Idea” award while Malaysia was honored in the “Best Design” category, and the “Best Engineering” prize went to Thailand.

Indonesia, Mongolia, and India won other awards presented by the contest’s sponsors.

Founded in 2002 by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, the Asia-Pacific Robot Contest aims to create friendship among young people with similar interests, as well as help advance engineering and broadcasting technologies in the region.

Robots compete to complete a task within a set period of time in the competition.

This year’s edition was attended by 17 teams from 16 countries and territories across Asia-Pacific.