The newly-crowned champions of world robotic soccer will be putting their silky skills and shooting power on display at the RoboCup Junior Queensland Competition this weekend at The University of Queensland’s UQ Centre at St Lucia.
The UQ-trained E-Strikers team from Brisbane Grammar School won the largest and most prestigious junior robotics championships in Fukuoka, Japan in June, and will be defending their State title at the competition.
In front of 120,000 spectators, the four Grade 12 students won the World RoboCup Junior Soccer Competition after scoring a convincing 3-0 victory over Pilatoren of Germany.
The robotics competition is for primary and high school students, with an emphasis on hands-on teaching of technological and scientific skills.
Students can compete in three different categories: soccer (Grades 8-12); rescue (Grades 5-7 and Grades 8-10); and dance (Grades 5-7 and 8-12).
UQ’s School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (ITEE) has been holding three-hour training courses teach students about robot construction and the basics of software programming since February.
RoboCup Junior Queensland Coordinator Lynne Launt said registration for this year’s competition had tripled since 2001, with 100 teams registered, including eight from far north Queensland schools.
The winning teams at the State competition will be invited to attend the national competition to be held in Melbourne on September 12-14.
The top two to three teams at the national competition will be eligible to compete in the 2003 International RoboCup Junior competition in Padua, Italy.
Entry is free to this weekend’s competition, which will be held from 10am to 5pm on both days.
Media: For more information, contact Lynne Launt (telephone 07 3365 4195, fax 07 3365 4999, email: lynee@itee.uq.edu.au) or visit www.itee.uq.edu.au/robocupjnr
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