Tauranga locals excel at robotics champs

The house of science robotic team. Photo/Supplied

A team from Tauranga's House of Science has qualified for the VEX Robotics World Championships in the United States after winning the New Zealand VEX EDR Robotics Championships.

Last weekend's competition, aimed mainly at high school-aged students, was held at the Massey University Albany campus and involved 70 teams, each with its own robot.

The team will now compete in the world champs in Louisville, Kentucky, at the end of April.

Winner Dean Strydom was one of the original members of the House of Science Robotics Team, so it was "extremely rewarding" for him to win his final New Zealand event before having to move on to the tertiary level competition, House of Science chief executive Chris Duggan said.

He has represented New Zealand at two previous world championships but had never won the New Zealand nationals.

Fellow student Samuel Gillies-Smith assisted Dean in building the successful robot during the summer holidays, whilst Dean programmed and drove it in the competition. The House of Science Robotics Club had three teams with a total of nine students in the nationals. All performed strongly during the qualification phase and, after having eight games each, were ranked second, third and 16th out of the 90 teams there. The House of Science B team (Gillies-Smith, Gaby Absalom, William Bruning and Samuel Cowan) came up against Dean's robot in the quarter-final and, although the quartet put up a decent battle, they were forced out of the competition by their more experienced clubmate.

The A team (Callum McLeod, George Feast, Jacob Church and Orion Thomas) were also knocked out at the quarter-final stage. Dean also won the STEM Award for the House of Science team. Church finished ranked third in programming skills.

Otumoetai College was also well represented at the nationals with four robots competing.

Ms Duggan said the team had only a few days to decide if they could attend the world championships in Kentucky, with some serious fundraising needed to meet the $3500 per person cost.

To find out how to support the House of Science team, contact Carl Acton on 07 571 0711.