Curtin University was abuzz with the drone of robots and laughter of children on Friday and Saturday with the annual Robocup Junior WA taking over Curtin Stadium.
Students from all over WA worked hard to build robots capable of dancing, playing soccer or performing tricky rescue missions for the competition.
More than 600 students registered for this year’s event, including for the first time a significant cohort from outside the Perth metropolitan area with teams from Northam, Busselton, Pemberton and Wickham.
Scitech Robocup coordinator Tim Schmitz said the competition provided a crucial link between what students learnt in the classroom and the real-world applications of coding and robotics.
“In Robocup students code a robot to rescue a stranded can,” he said.
“In the real world that robot could be used to investigate a dangerous building or confined space.”
Teams signed up to take part in preliminary rounds on Friday vying for a spot in Saturday’s state finals.
Cannington Community College was the best performing southeastern suburbs school after its team Potato Heads took out second place in the secondary robot dance competition.
