A team from the Majura Primary after school coding class participated in the ACT RoboCup Junior Competition held on 7 September at the Saint Francis Xavier School in Florey. Eighty-three teams from various schools around the ACT competed in the challenge this year.
The Majura team (Team Cheryl) made up of Thomson Frazer, Charlie and Lucy Blacker, Owen Henderson and Kiran Isbister worked for over 6 weeks, on weekdays and weekends, preparing for this competition.
The team was required to assemble a robot and write complex code for it to undertake a rescue challenge. The Rescue competition mirrors the real life use of robots that rescue people from life-threatening situations.
The robot competed by following a winding black line on a series of tiles to a designated rescue area. On the way the robot encounters obstacles, bridges and short cut opportunities that challenged the most intrepid programmer. After negotiating the randomly selected path, the robot arrives at a green coloured area which indicates a chemical spill. While the clock is still ticking the robot must find “the victim” before pushing them out of the quicksand to safety.
The team participated in 5 rounds throughout the day, and although it did not win, the learning experience was incredible and the determination and camaraderie displayed by the team members remained till the very end. Kudos to team Cheryl !