Robocup Nationals were held on Saturday 14th September at Dunedin City Baptist Church. Columba College was represented by ‘The Columbots’, Ruth Huang and Joanna Liu of Year 12, who came a very creditable second in NZ

Earlier this year, we competed in Robocup Otago Regionals, also held at DCBC. We had worked on our robots for the entire day before the competition and were nearly going to give up as nothing seemed to work. However, after praying for the competition and deciding to just do our best, we unexpectedly gained a first-equal. This was beyond our expectations and it meant that we could carry on to nationals.

We had spent the months leading up to the competition coding and improving our robots to play soccer, but like before, the day before the competitions, our robots were worse off than at Regionals. After praying a second time for us to have good sportsmanship and also to remain calm during the competition, we had a pretty sleepless night. The next day, we were up against 4 other teams from Auckland, Christchurch, Queenstown and Dunedin.

After mixed results in the games (win, loss and a draw), we didn’t hold out much hope for a placing, especially as we received a prize for sportsmanship, but because of goal difference, we came second overall.

So, to students who are interested in doing robotics but feel that it’ll be too difficult or you’re not smart enough, look at us! Our program still does not work properly and most of it has been trial and error. The only thing that matters is the experience, and for us, we have really valued this learning opportunity and the challenges that came with it.