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MORE than 1000 students from around the world will participate in a robot building competition taking place in Sydney on 17 to 19 March.
The Australian Regional FIRST Robotics Competition for 2016 promises to be the biggest yet, with 53 teams from the United States, Singapore, Taiwan, China, India, and Australia participating.
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a not-for-profit organisation that runs a suite of robotics programs for school students year round.
The teams will compete by pitting their robots against each other to see which can catapult boulders and scale obstacles to ‘conquer’ an opponent’s tower.
To enter the event, the student teams spent six weeks designing, building and programming the robots. All teams had to work with the same construction materials and control system components to build their robots.
According to FIRST Australia Regional Director, Luan Heimlich, the objectives of the competition go beyond determining a winner on the day.
“Our program is designed to guide and support well-rounded scientists, engineers, and tech entrepreneurs,” he explained. “It’s one thing to know how to build a robot that can complete a set of criteria in a game, but we also want to equip these kids to have the skills to lead a team, and to collaborate with their growing network of peers to tackle bigger, real-world issues with the skills they’ve picked up along the way.”
It is hoped that programs like this competition will help Australia and other countries counter the grave shortage in STEM skills. Data from PwC shows that shifting just one percent of the workforce into STEM roles would add $57.4 billion to the nation’s GDP over the next two decades.
Almost half of all employers expect requirements for STEM-qualified employees to increase in the next five years, making continued education in this space an essential priority.
The FIRST Robotics Competition was initially brought to Australia by Macquarie University in 2006. Sponsors of the program include Macquarie University, Google, Ford, AndyMark, SalesForce, Autodesk, Rockwell Automation, BAE Systems and Boeing.
The competition will run from 17 to 19 March at the Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre.