The Robo Rebels are planning a display by junior and senior teams conducting robot driving demonstrations from 10am until 12 noon this Saturday under the Dome at Narooma Plaza. 

The Narooma junior robotics team entered the Robocup at Moruya high last week in the Rescue division with two teams, NED and the Gas Monkeys.

Students had to program their Lego EV3 robot to follow a line maze, move around obstacles and enter a chemical spill to save a civilian after an earthquake.

“We competed against other schools in the region and team NED managed to come first in this division,” teacher Gayle Allison said. “Congratulations to both teams on their commitment and steady improvement throughout the day.”

Both junior teams have now qualified for State Robocup at University of NSW, Sydney in August. The high school congratulated Narooma Public School and Miss Symons who entered their first robot competition and had great success on the day.

Senior Robo Rebels meanwhile competed in the March South Pacific Regionals in Sydney where the competition was all about Steamworks. The aim of the game was to deliver cogs to the airship, shoot balls of fuel  into the boiler and finally climb on board the airship for take-off.

“We were selected to the playoffs, making it to the quarter finals for the first time. In preparation for the final rounds we were ‘cheesecaked’ by the Marsden Ramjets and Komplete Kaos teams,” Mrs Allison said.

“That’s when a more experienced team quickly makes modifications to help a robot perform better. In this case they helped add a climbing device so we could climb.

“We combatted through a best of three competition. First round our robot couldn’t move due to the new program and complications with conflicting code.

“Second round, more coding problems and our robot shot forward in the autonomous mode and crashed into the opposition, wiping them out. Victory, although not quite deliberate. Third round was a great competition which went down to the last 30 seconds and we lost narrowly after an attempt to climb.”

The Narooma High School robotics teams would like to thank our sponsors FIRST, Macquarie University, Wollongong University, Ford, Agrosy, Google, Narooma Quota and Narooma IGA.

“Your help is invaluable in supporting this very expensive but exciting adventure,” Mrs Alison said “Special thanks to an anonymous local business who has kindly donated 10 iPads , which will be used to run our workshops, junior robotics and publicity of all events.”

Seniors are currently working on Bunsen, their robot for the next FRC competition in the July school holiday. The Duel Down Under will be on at Macquarie University from July 3-5, good luck Robo Rebels.

To assist with funding students to these upcoming Sydney regionals we will be once again be holding its EV3 Robotics workshops at Narooma High School. The following dates are now open for bookings online: Eventbrite.com, search for RoboCamps. Camps cost $15 per person, payable on the day.

All workshops are suitable for beginners to more experienced students in primary school, Years 4-6 with 20 places available in each workshop, cost is $15 with all funds raised going to the robotics program at Narooma High School.

Please contact Gayle Allison at Narooma High School for further information on 4476 4377 ex 121.