Robots might take over the world – but they still have to take orders from someone.
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On Friday, June 16, those “someones” were 65 students from Moruya, Narooma and Ulladulla High Schools, and Batemans Bay and Narooma Public Schools.
Each school fielded teams in an inaugural robotics championship at Moruya High School.
This was the third year of the competition and teacher Kathy Webber said interest had grown “in leaps and bounds.”
Categories of ‘bot competition included find and rescue, soccer and a dance off.
Narooma High science teacher Gayle Allison explained the chemistry behind the rescue event.
“The robot has to follow a line on a piece of paper into a green area, which represents a chemical spill, and retrieve a model person,” she said.
The soccer competition was particularly fierce, with Moruya teams Strike Force and Bing Bong going head to head. Their robots were designed to identify the ball and sidelines, using clever code to seek an infra-red ball with a sensor.
Students had to build and program their ‘bots.
For Xave, at Narooma High, robotics took over his life.
“I’ve been working on it at school, during lessons, on the bus ride up, pretty much all day,” he said.
However Gabriel Love, of Ulladulla, took a more laid back approach.
“I wrote the code for mine yesterday … that was kind of a mistake,” he said.
Teachers and students were unanimous in their enthusiasm.
“The kids learn so much; not just the coding, but how to work as a team, cooperative learning skills, programming,” Ms Webber said.
“The kids have got so much extra knowledge today from just this experience.”
This was Ulladulla’s first year in the competition teacher Matt MacDonell said.
“They thought it was a bit of a gimmick at first, but they quickly realised it’s not a joke, it’s actually quite hard,” he said.
They thought it was a bit of a gimmick
- Matt MacDonald
“It took a couple of weeks for someone to get it to half work, and then they all put their head down and gave it a shot.”
Moruya, Narooma and Ulladulla all hope to reach the state competition in Sydney in August.
Moruya has their sights set on the nationals in Brisbane.
“You don’t have to qualify at the state level to go to nationals, but it’s good if you can get a place,” Ms Webber explained.
The winners in each category on the day were:
Rescue: first place Team Ned, Narooma; second place, The Avengers, Moruya.
Dance: first place Ulladulla Dance, Ulladulla; second place, TEEMO, Bay Public.
Soccer: first place to Bing Bong, Moruya.
