Twenty Sunshine Coast teams have battled it out at the RoboRAVE Australia annual robotics competition at the University of the Sunshine Coast, with ten of those teams from seven local schools* winning across 15 divisions.
Teams from Baringa State School, Sunshine Coast Grammar School, Chancellor State College, Peregian Springs State School, Mountain Creek High School, Caloundra Christian College and St Andrews Anglican College were crowned for their entries in the popular competition.
The energy was electric as students, aged eight to 20 representing 363 teams from across Queensland, yesterday (July 17) raced to design, build and program fully autonomous robots to compete in the challenges for each division.
Sunshine Coast Council Mayor Mark Jamieson, who officially opened yesterday’s event, said council recognised our young people were the future leaders of our region’s high value knowledge-based industries.
“The talent and imagination on display yesterday was inspiring and it was clear a lot of hard work and passion had gone into each team’s preparation,” Mayor Jamieson said.
“Through the Regional Economic Development Strategy, council is a proud supporter of RoboCoast and the RoboRAVE competition, which gives our young people the opportunity to develop the skills and industry connections they need to access exciting career pathways in technology.
“With the Sunshine Coast International Broadband network putting us on the international business map, and first-class education providers such as the University of the Sunshine Coast and TAFE Queensland on our doorstep, there is no better place to study Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics than right here on the Sunshine Coast.”
RoboRAVE Australia is an annual robotics competition run by the team from RoboCoast, which is a hub of state and private schools operating on the Sunshine Coast.
Their objective is to promote the uptake of robotics and coding across the region through staff and student training days, visits and a range of fun robotics competitions such as RoboRAVE Australia.
RoboCoast Robotics & Engineering Lead Teacher and RoboCoast Co-Founder Simon Richardson said they were incredibly proud of the students who had worked so hard to succeed in these highly competitive international level events.
“The beauty of RoboRave is that it has been established so students can participate at very low cost in comparison to other robotics competitions because the competition entry fee per competitor is very low,” Mr Richardson said.
“Keeping the entry fee low means students who are new to robotics are able to enter and give competition a go.
“Often these students return year after year, improving on their skills and confidence as they continue with their robotics journey, and we have such great talent here on the Sunshine Coast.
“This region is now the premier location for robotics education in Australia. We have the highest density of high-performing schools in robotics in the nation.”
The Australian event is part of the RoboRAVE international robotics competition, with events held around the world.
In 2024, the Sunshine Coast has the opportunity to be the host location for RoboRAVE International, which will attract up to 4000 participants from around the world.
Fast facts:
- The 2022 RoboRAVE competition had 890 competitors in 363 teams.
- Competitors represented 50 schools, community groups, home schools, universities and robotics clubs across Queensland.
- Approximately 120 volunteers were vital to the event’s success. Many were parents, school staff and University of the Sunshine Coast students.
- Teams could use LEGO robotics or any other type of robot provided it cost less than $1500 USD.
- This meant that teams could actually design and build their own robots using relatively low-cost components such as Arduino, Microbit and CyberPi and 3D printing or laser cutting the robot body.
