The FFL challenge requires students to research a real-world problem such as food safety, recycling, energy and develop a solution. The students have to also design, build and program a robot using the LEGO MINDSTORMS® technology to solve a series of missions.
One boy’s and one girls’ team from St Kevin’s attended the regional championships.
The girl’s team, under the mentorship of a Year 5 student, were all new to the world of robotics and were named the recipients of the Coach’s Award on the day for their wonderful efforts.
The boy’s team consisted of both students who were new to robotics and others who had tried their hand at competing the previous year. The boys were successful enough to be given entry into the NSW championship.
After having engineers and a metallurgist to give them feedback on their project, the boys attended the NSW Championships.
They performed admirably, finishing sixth out of a field of 40.
Their presentation was scored exceptional by the judge who told them that she could not think of any way to improve their project.
A big congratulations and thank you to all the students for their dedication and perseverance in trying to be the best team possible.
St Kevin’s first introduced robotics into the classroom in 2016 using Lego Mindstorms RCX robots. In 2017, the school made the decision to graduate to Lego EV3 robots and the students really embraced the new technology and began looking for ways to demonstrate their skills.
This year, St Kevin’s have expanded their STEM focus, providing students the opportunity to participate in a lunchtime coding/electronics club or the robotics club and by incorporating robots in classrooms from Kindergarten to Year 6.
Additionally, students from Year 1 to 6 can sign up for Tuesday afternoon extra-curricular robotics, with two Year 7 students returning to the school to mentor the sessions.
St Kevin's intends to continue participating in both Robocup and FLL to allow more students to develop and demonstrate their skills.
