More than 100 students and teachers from 10 schools throughout the Central Queensland region took part in the RoboCup Junior Workshop at Rockhampton State High School this week.

The workshops were a joint initiative between the Central Queensland University, University of Queensland and Rockhampton State High School.

CQU lecturer Andrew Chiou said the RoboCup Junior Rockhampton Workshop provided an introduction to robot technology for those interested in entering upcoming competitions.

“This workshop focused on the construction and programming of robots geared towards the RoboCup Junior competition using state-of-the-art Lego Mindstorms/Dacta Challenge kits and Robolab software.

Sessions focused on construction and programming of robots and an informal mini-competition to test the robot prototypes vs. other robot prototypes constructed during the workshop.

Enthused students now have the opportunity to enter The RoboCup Junior Competition, to be held in September this year. This is an annual event held at the National and State levels.

The focus of the competition is to educate children not only to understand science and technology, but also to nurture understanding: human to technology and human to human by focussing on learning, teamwork and enjoyment through these activities and challenges.