Schools showcase tech skills through robotics competition

An Olympics-style competition for robots will take place at The University of Queensland on 21-22 August.

Each robot at the RoboCup Junior Queensland Championship has been built by school students and programmed to dance, play soccer or perform a simulated rescue exercise.

Around 300 students from primary and high schools throughout the state are expected; including Gin Gin State School and Eimeo Road State School in Mackay.

Associate Professor Stephen Wilson from UQ's School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (ITEE) said RoboCup Junior aimed to encourage school students to take an active interest in the scientific and technological fields.

“The competition is an excellent opportunity to foster student interest in these areas by designing, making and programming robotic creations in an exciting and competitive environment,” he said.

“RoboCup Junior involves not only engineering and IT skills, but also develops broad skills including sportsmanship, teamwork and organisation.”

Each school has spent months preparing for the competition and will participate in categories including: Robot Soccer, Robot Rescue and Robot Dance during the two-day event.

Associate Professor Wilson said it was a very social event since students worked in small groups to perfect their robots in the months prior to the competition, and competed with family and friends cheering on from a grandstand.

Expert tutors at UQ have developed workshops to help students and teachers alike to build their knowledge and understanding of the simple concepts that form the basis of robotics.

Teachers and students then use these skills in the classroom and work independently to assemble and program the robots that compete in the RoboCup Junior Competition.

Community members are invited to see the students and robots compete at UQ before the Queensland winners travel to Sydney to compete in the RoboCup Junior Australian Open Championships in September.

RoboCup Junior was introduced to the world in Melbourne in 2000.

Today, it is played in 30 countries and is now a regular feature of the annual university-run RoboCup World Finals.

For more information on Robocup Junior, visit www.robocupjunior.org.au.

Media: Marie Valerien at the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology on 3365 8525 or m.valerien@uq.edu.au