Micromouse is pretty interesting. Those japanese videos on youtube are crazy. I wonder how much they re-use algorithms and how much they invent themselves to beat the opponent. Do you have any good links to algorithms they use to learn the maze etc.
I would love to work in robotics.. There is a small finnish company that does autonomous mining machines. They work in the tunnels collecting all the rocks after a detonations.. I've been looking for a job opportunity there for years
They are not hiring unfortunately. All the robotics I do now is my own hobby projects. Unfortunately not much hardware.. mainly programming and simulation. I like geometry and graphics. Here are pictures of some of that work from years back:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qq5kzkytba3rgfb/debug-interface01.png
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6uwis4hki02xk55/ForestSimulator01.png