ROBOTS are slowly, but surely, taking over our schools, with teenage tech-buffs helping spark interest in science at a young age.
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Oxley High created its first ever robotics team this year and threw itself in the deep end, taking on a national competition in Sydney.
While the team finished 22nd overall, it managed to defeat some university entrants in the “First Power Up” tournament, where teams create a robot designed to navigate obstacles courses and perform lifting tasks.
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However, the team has re-calibrated and set its sights on a new mission.
The high school students, and their teacher Josh Vigar, showed off their robot at Tamworth Public School recently.
Year 11 Oxley student Joseph Ross-Ward hoped it would get the primary school students interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) subjects from a young age.
He was keen to pursue robotics competitions, once he gets to university, but he said it was about more than the thrill of the battle.
“There’s a lot of teamwork involved which is great, getting know all of the people,” he said.
“It’s also just being able to get something to move, starting from scratch and putting something together with just pieces of metal, wire, anything.
“And it drives and moves, it’s great.”
The team also had a helping hand from CSIRO chief executive Larry Marshall who “interned” with Oxley High Robotics for about an hour at the competition in Sydney.
Oxley maths teacher Josh Vigar said having the high school students take the robot on tour was aimed at getting kids “excited about science when they’re in primary school” and getting his students further engaged with the work.
“You don’t really understand something unless you can explain it simply,” Mr Vigar said.
“When my students finish up here, they’re going to have teach our year sevens and eights how to do what they’ve done in competition.
“It’s all about building sustainability through the program.”
While there’s an emphasis on fostering the next generation of scientists and engineers, Mr Vigar said the team would be back tinkering away at its machine for another invitational tournament in July.