Massey robotics champions to star in world cup

A team of Massey University robotics world champions will feature in the first ever Robotics World Cup, due to kick off in Auckland during the Rugby World Cup.

The team of engineering students last month won the university section of the Vex Robotics World Championships in Orlando, Florida.

In October they will compete against university teams from Australia, New Zealand, USA, Mexico, Columbia and others yet to be confirmed, alongside schools in a competitive robotics game. The event is being organised by the New Zealand Information and Technologies Group and Kiwibots New Zealand, which runs Vex Robotics competitions in schools. The team will also create a life-sized robot to compete in a goal-kicking competition against human counterparts.

Minister for the Rugby World Cup the Hon Murray McCully, announced the Schools’ Robotics World Cup this week. It will be held on October 11-13, and is part of a showcase featuring home grown technology and innovation from a range of industries in a series of nationwide events during the Rugby World Cup.
It aims to raise awareness and create business opportunities among rugby world cup visitors.

“The Rugby World Cup puts New Zealand in the international spotlight like never before. This is an unprecedented opportunity for a small trading nation to surprise the world with our extraordinary capabilities,” Mr McCully said.

Using the Vex Robotics World Championship game model, the Robotics World Cup will involve teams designing, building and maintaining robots that compete in a game of speed, strategy, skill and adrenalin. The recent world championships in Florida drew more than 10,000 intermediate, high school and university participants representing 16 countries, including several New Zealand school teams.

Massey’s four-strong team, from the School of Engineering and Advanced Technology at Albany, was unbeaten throughout the competition and was also awarded the supreme award of excellence, given to the team with the most well rounded robotics programme.

Vex Robotics was developed in response to a worldwide shortage of engineers. It is a platform for high school pupils with an interest in science, technology, engineering and maths to participate in an exciting, challenging game requiring teamwork, leadership and problem solving.

Vex Robotics was launched in New Zealand in 2008. In 2009 the University held the first national Vex competition at its Albany campus, and has provided mentoring for participating schools teams. Several have been successful at the world championships during the past three years.