Young robotics stars show their skills at State event

Six students from West Busselton Primary have competed strongly in the Robocup Junior contest, where they built robots to perform to music.

Lucas Macgregor, Tory Renae Semmens, Ari Copeman, Sophie Willison, Claire Whisson and Gabriel Simeon joined children from across WA participating in RoboCup Junior via Scietech.

RoboCup Junior is a robotics organisation which attempts to inspire primary aged children to engineering goals through a challenge in robotics.

Competitions take place across Perth and regional WA throughout the year, culminating in a RoboCup Junior WA event at Curtin Stadium in the first week of August.

This year WBPS was the only team from the South West to compete in the metro competition where two teams receive “golden tickets” to the State final in August.

Unfortunately they were not successful but they received a commendation for overcoming technical difficulties, overall behaviour and presence at the event.

WBPS Primary Extension and Challenge teacher Julie Gardner said the children learned teamwork and resilience during the construction of their robots.

“We provide a forum for kids to get some extension and enrichment in their education,” she said. “The work they put in combines creativity with initiative and dedication.”

Students programmed the software packs and attached them to constructed Lego designs.