When the buzzer sounded at the NSW state final, the room went silent. Then the scoreboard flashed: Lumina Ridge, first place by four points.
It was a remarkable result for a team that, only two months earlier, had watched their robot tip over during its first test run. Rather than give up, the six Year 9 and 10 students went back to the design studio and rebuilt almost everything.
Back to the drawing board
The team met every lunchtime and two afternoons a week in the STEM Hub. They lowered the centre of gravity, redesigned the gripper three times and rewrote their autonomous code from scratch.
“We learned more from that first failure than from anything that went right. Every time it broke, we understood it a bit better.”
Heading to Melbourne
The national finals take place in early December. The team will compete against 32 schools from every state and territory, with judges scoring robot performance, engineering notebooks and a live interview.
Families and friends can follow along through our social channels, and the College will livestream the final round in the Wattle Arts Centre.
Want to get involved?
Robotics club is open to all students from Year 5. Junior teams meet on Wednesdays and senior squads on Tuesdays and Thursdays. No experience needed, just curiosity.
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