The Sunshine Coast is leading the way in robotics technology and is set to host RoboRave Australia.
RoboRave Australia is a chance for the robotic-enthused to participate in a full day of activities and competitions at The University of the Sunshine Coast on Sunday, May 30.
The event is hosted locally by RoboCoast, an initiative that came to fruition after Chancellor State College teacher Simon Richardson discovered a Lego robotics kit tucked away in the school library.
“We dug it out and with a few of the boys from my maths extension class we built the first robot,” Mr Richardson said.
“We saw on the cover that there was a competition.”
The newly formed team entered a local competition in 2017 and won, before progressing to and winning the state and national championships.
“We then went to the USA at an international level and between 64,000 teams worldwide and 135 countries and returned home in first place.
“The following year we entered the next age group up and we went again to the world championships in Houston at NASA.
“We got a top ten position and we elevated Australia from 350th in the world to 15th in the world in a matter of 18 months.
“Chancellor and the Sunshine Coast is now the most successful robotics school and region in Australia in the 25 years of competitive robotics and software coding.”
With newfound success, Mr Richardson said people were asking him what his magic formula was, so he decided to start a hub to help other schools develop their own program.
“I decided to start up RoboCoast as an amalgamation of 14 Sunshine Coast schools and then we could incorporate as a non-profit and apply for grants,” he said.
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“We’ve run eight immersion days and on the Sunshine Coast we have trained about 3000 students.”
This provided him with the platform to bring RoboRave to Australia and Mr Richarson has gone on to coach the winning national team for the past five years.
“The first competition here has gone from three schools in 2017 to 100 schools.”
“This year we have 700 competitors, 260 teams from over 100 schools enrolled and it is just growing exponentially.”
“The format of the RoboRave competition caters from eight years old right up to adults.”
The competition has been running internationally for 20 years and last year, despite COVID and border closures, the Australian event was the largest robotics competition in the southern hemisphere.”
“RoboRave is a community focused competition, rather than a profit-making event. You don’t have to qualify for it, we are not elitist and if you want to come and have a go you can.”
“It is an international competition and we will be offering it online worldwide and we are looking forward to having an influx of international guests in person when we can.”
The competition will give students attending the event in person the chance to design, build, program and test robots to perform a variety of tasks.
Mr Richardson has a unique relationship with the world of robotics himself and told sunshinecoastnews.com.au that in some ways he is like a walking, talking robot himself.
The 44-year-old lives with early onset Parkinson’s disease and in December last year had a device implanted that uses Bluetooth connectivity to his mobile to help control his motor system and send data to his neurologist in Brisbane.
“I am a walking, talking Internet of Things (IoT) device.
“I’m running on Windows 10 and I like to tell the kids and I have a 5G hotspot that comes out of my chest.”
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Mr Richardson is also currently writing a biography titled Simon Richardson: Mover and Shaker, giving reference to his life with Parkinson’s.
He is a mathematics teacher and has a background in brand management, economics and international trading.
Registrations to RoboRave Australia are open, visit robocoast.tech/roborave-australia.
