Geelong Lutheran robotics secures Nationals spot

A BAND of six Grade 6 students at Geelong Lutheran College is bound for the national stage in robotics after an impressive showing at Werribee’s Lego League regional robotics competition last month.

The GLC team, named Sematics 101, took on all its opponents on the day by building, engineering, and navigating a Lego robot throughout different “missions” on the competition’s course.

“It’s been a journey this year with so many obstacles, but our team has stayed strong and I’m really happy that we get to go to Nationals,” Primary School captain and team member Swetha Rangaraj said.

“If we work hard enough international competition might be a possibility. Our coaches are amazing people and have taught us so many skills.”

GLC collected a litany of accolades on the day headlined by the Champion’s Award.

Additionally, Sematics 101 was able to acquire recognitions for Robot Performance and the Coaching/Mentor Award, a direct result of the efforts made by coach Jane Hollett.

“Our coaches have been amazing,” Miss Rangaraj said.

“I’ve learnt how to document, engineer, design and program, I really wish more students would get into this as it’s really changed me.

“These are really helpful skills that I’ve learnt, maybe one day we’ll see some of us become engineers, doctors or pilots, as a result of the things that we’ve learnt.”

Geelong courier service ‘Pack and Send’ franchisee, James Dick, worked with the students to provide guidance and feedback and was suitably impressed by the students’ passion for problem solving.

“Logistics can be pretty dry, but also fun, and it seems that these students get it,” Mr Dick said.

“It was really interesting to observe the development from conceptualisation to the end product.

“The passion of the leadership was really impressive throughout, and I thought the students did a very good job, particularly given the tight time frame.”

The Sematics 102 team, an older robotics team cohort, is also enroute to the National robotics competition after winning the Robot Performance and Robot Design categories at the Bangholme Regional Competition earlier in the year.