POMONA, Calif. — The leader of one of the 24 teams competing in this week’s finals of the DARPA Robotics Challenge didn’t think he’d be here.

Actually, he didn’t really want to be here.

Until six months ago, Paul Oh, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, had no intention, or interest, in competing in the DARPA challenge that is bringing in two dozen teams from around the world to see who has built the best robot for in a search-and-rescue mission.

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