Students from St Peter’s College in Palmerston North have again proved they are the stuff national robotics champs are made of.
The Catholic school’s Evaristus team won the excellence award and the tournament championship at the national robotics championships in Christchurch. The four-member team has now been were invited to the world championships.
The school performed consistently well in robotics nationally, with its second team, Apollo, being beaten by Evaristus 15-8 in the final.
In this, the student-made and controlled robots, had to race around a grid collecting coloured balls and dropping them in a basket.
Evaristus member Charlie Mollard says his team had been working on their robot for four months, perfecting it leading up to the event and making sure it didn’t break down.
The team’s secret weapon was that it was a “double-robot team” with two robots to collect the balls during the competition.
A good driver is the key to controlling the double robot, he says.
The four-member teams agrees it was stressful in the final. One says they had to fan the motor of their robot with a sheet of plastic to keep it cool.
Mollard says as robots are the future, being able to work with robots gives the team an advantage in life.
At present he’s working on a new robot, which could play the piano.
The runner-up St Peter’s team had mechanical difficulties the morning of the competition, but worked on their robot through the lunch break and came from last place to reach the final.
Their robot had a vision sensor, which helped pick up the right coloured balls.
One of the Apollo team members, who is planning a career in artificial intelligence and programming, says working in robotics encourages students to take up science, technology, engineering and maths subjects.
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