Homeschool Team Win at 2009 Vex Robotics World Championships

Written by Mark Lawton

Friday, 08 May 2009 17:12

Auckland Homeschool Team Free Range Robotics took away two awards at the 2009 Vex Robotics World Championships held 30th April – 2nd May in Dallas, Texas.

They won the World Championship title for Programming Skills where they had to design and programme a robot to navigate over a field and score goals in a one minute period without any human intervention.  They were one of the two top scoring robots in the preliminaries and went on to face off against the other top team in the finals.  The team watched and cheered as the Free range robot scored in 3 goals while picking up other blocks on the field and then managed to finish on the raised platform with 4 seconds to go.  The final score was 28 to 14 giving Free Range Robotics the World Title in programming skills.

The team also came third in the Robot Skills Challenge where they had to control a robot by remote control over a course and score goals in a one minute period. Their Score was 59 points which was only one point behind the two finalists who scored 60 points.

In the tournament section the 280 qualifying teams from around the world were split into two divisions. Free range robotics came first in their division, despite the fact that their alliance partners could not compete for two games, and they had to compete with one robot against two opposing robots.

They went on to win both quarter final games. In the semi finals they won their first game and lost their second game by a technicality, even though they were ahead on points. In the nail-biting third game they teamed up with a Canadian team and lost by one point with the final score being 36-37.

Another homeschool team from the USA, along with their alliance partner, won the tournament.

Free range robotics have been meeting as a team at Massey University for ten months who kindly provided their premises and who have facilitated the NZ regional competitions.

“The home school team were great to work with and the Massey University team were inspired by their success and proud to be associated with such a great team of kids and parents”said Dr Johan Potgeiter, senior lecturer in mechatronics, engineering and industrial management at Massey University.

The team is grateful for the sponsorship provided by Frontline Technologies, Joseph Banks, NZMarks, Telecom, Leading Edge, Lions Foundation, Accplus, Imagio, Civileer, Mrs Higgins, Auckland Home Educators and Printstop. They are also grateful to the rest of the team who were not able to go to Dallas and the homeschooling community and others who helped support them.

Auckland home-schoolers shine in robot competition

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10571246

4:00AM Saturday May 09, 2009
By Isaac Davison

Team members competing in Texas included (from left) Max Waller, 14, Ethan Harrold, 13, and Kane Ross, 16. Photo / Supplied

A group of Auckland youths have given the favourites a fright in a world robotics competition.

Six representatives of Free Range Robotics – a group made up of home-schooled youngsters from 14 Auckland households – dazzled international competitors and Nasa scouts in reaching the semifinals of the Vex Robotics World Championships in Dallas, Texas.

The six were ranked first in the competition for programming and third for driver skills, leading more than 260 schools from around the world that had won their respective regional and national titles.

Massey University lecturer Johan Potgieter, who mentored the team, said he was not surprised by their success. The more open-minded curriculum of home schooling was an ideal breeding ground for robot-builders.

“Many of these kids have never sat an exam in their life … They have a very structured learning programme during the day, but it is obviously much easier for parents to integrate robotics because they are not following a set curriculum.

“There is a bit more flexibility to think outside the square … They can teach robotics in business terms, they can do projects on fundraising, on constructing … What they are doing is not under the strict guidelines of the [Ministry of Education].”

Dr Potgieter said the driver skills award was especially significant, as the diminutive Free Range Robotics driver, Ethan Harrold, was just 13 years old. “He was so small he could almost not see over the field …”

In Dallas, teams made up of six pupils had to modify and programme their remote-controlled robots, and on a playing field resembling a small boxing ring they had to race to place 7.5cm cubes into goals.

Free Range Robotics supervisor Craig Paul said they were finally eliminated by an experienced and aggressive American high school.

“They knew to study us and programmed their robot specifically to face us. It was almost like robot wars, smashing into us and perhaps pushing the boundaries a little.”

New Zealand teams dominated the championship. Onehunga High School team “Symbiohsis” also reached the semifinals, and Dr Potgieter’s Massey team were crowned best university ahead of top American colleges.

“The American community was impressed with New Zealand teams. We were the favourites … Whatever we did, the crowd just loved us.

“If you look at the number of teams and what we won – we cleaned up.”

He put the success down to intensive robotics workshops at weekends and allowing more “play-time” as opposed to strict theory. They also had the advantage of being unknown in the competition, and a laidback approach to problem-solving.

“We were gracious in defeat … but we didn’t have to be gracious very often because we almost never lost.”