LOURDES Hill College, Hawthorne, programmed a double victory for itself at the University of Queensland’s RoboCup Junior Championships last weekend.
The girls created Halloween-style robots and made them move to Michael Jackson’s Thriller, winning gold and silver in RoboCup’s senior dance competition.
Lourdes Hill mathematics co-ordinator Kath Perrier said it was a good learning opportunity for the 380 students who took part.
“They really enhanced their problem solving abilities by making the robots and having to think competitively,” she said.
Since 2001, this unique robot-design contest has been attracting primary and secondary schools from across the state, including St Francis Xavier’s School at Manunda and
St Patrick’s College at Mackay.
UQ’s School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering administrative manager Mark Starkey said Lourdes Hill teams had the recipe for success this year.
“Not only could they program the robots and work with the various software and hardware, but they also got creative,” he said.
Mr Starkey said RoboCup began with the hope of inspiring young people to consider futures in IT or engineering.
“It encourages kids to think about this area of study as an option,” he said.
“This is especially important for the females because it’s usually such a male dominated field.”
The state competition is followed by RoboCup Junior Australia, which will be held on the Gold Coast from September 1-2.
