Students set robot challenge

Horsham West and Haven Primary School will send a team from each campus to a First Lego League robotics challenge in Melbourne later this month.

Teams of up to 10 students from across the state will compete in the challenge using robots they have constructed.

Student Oscar Watson said the First Lego League program aimed to teach participants about science and engineering.

“This year’s theme is hydrodynamics,” he said.

“This is our first year in robotics so we’re all learning as we go.

“So far we’ve been learning how to build and program Lego EV3 Mindstorms robots.

“I’m enjoying the programming, especially when we get it right and it works.

“There’s a lot solving involved.”

Oscar said his school won a Lego grant by creating a one-minute Youtube clip.

“We were given a challenge mat with tasks, First Lego League team registration and an EV3 Mindstorms kit, all worth about $1000,” he said.

“The challenge mat has set tasks on it and each task that of problem you complete gains your team points. There are some barriers to avoid too, otherwise you lose points.”

Oscar said he looked forward to competing in Melbourne.

“Every team will have a different approach to how they go about completing the tasks and manoeuvre their robot,” he said.

“Mrs Smith, Mr Parry and Mr Mckenzie have done some work with us and we’ve also looked at Youtube for ideas.

“We’ve all got different areas that we’re good in and it helps to have a team that works well together.”