Abstract: This paper describes two robot competitions that took place within a robotics class for teachers. The robotics class was part of a two-year master's degree program that aims at educating upper secondary school teachers of different backgrounds in informatics, a discipline that is not yet a mandatory part of the school curriculum in Switzerland. The aim of these robot competitions was to familiarize the teachers with robotic hardware and software such that they would be able to design their own informatics class syllabus. We describe the robotic platforms used, the competitions, their aims and results. Furthermore, we address the question whether robots are a suitable tool for teacher education in informatics.