03 Jun 2017
The Wollondilly Roobots travelled to Louisville Kentucky to participate in the 2017 VEX Robotics World Championships this April. The team consisted of Mary Hyland, William Hyland and Lucas Ottley from Wollondilly Public School, Goulburn, and NSW. At the Championships there were 280 teams from 40 countries across the world. The team had great success and can't wait to start on next season's competition, Ringmaster.
The VEX IQ program has a number of different challenges that the students can participate in. Before the team left for America they had completed 3 online challenges; Texas Instruments Electronics Online Challenge, VEX Robotics Photography Challenge and the VEX IQ Challenge Promote Award. The team achieved a finalist position in the VEX IQ Challenge Promote Award and are already working on next year's challenge.
At the Worlds team participated in 10 Qualifying matches with teams from across the world. At the end of the qualifying matches the team ranked 36th. Unfortunately only the top 20 teams move onto the finals, however the Wollondilly Roobots robot was able to compete in all matches showing that their design was reliable and robust.
During the event teams had to present their STEM Project. This year's theme was Robotic Technology in our Community. After a 4 minute presentation and 5 minutes of questioning from the judges the team was awarded the STEM Project Award. The team researched Drones and how the Police Rescue in Goulburn has used the drones to help with their rescue work. The team as part of their researched designed rescue packs for different situations, how carrying the rescue packs affected the drone in flight as well as the battery life of the drone. The Team and Coach are over the moon with this achievement which has shown that hard work can pays off.
At the Worlds Mary went to a Girl Power program and meet some amazing women in STEM occupations, including the Captain of Witch Doctor from Battlebots, Andrea Suarez. The team got into the spirit with their mascot "Skippy" being an event favourite for photos, however the vegemite was not as warmly welcomed. Overall it was a great experience with lots of new friends made.