Twenty students got the chance to work with the Institute of Engineers from Victoria University on a Robotics project.

Many people take machines, electronics, and computers for granted. At the click of a button, robots and electronics can work their magic, taking care of all sorts of complex tasks, making things faster, and turning our daily routines into a breeze!

Creating them can be laborious, complicated, and involve many steps. This time it was the kids’ turn, with a special session for some students in the school to build a robot. This session was a great introduction to basic electronics for possible future engineers.

Twenty or so pupils were selected to participate in a special robotics session on the 20th of September. We sat down in the Digi Room and were introduced to several men who had many years of experience in engineering with most of these men from organisations like EIT or were retired electrical workers. We were told that we were going to be literally building robots and many of us looked gobsmacked and thought, “How the heck are we gonna build a ROBOT?” But it was not as hard as we thought. They then explained that the robots would be stationary and would use a mini processor to make it play sounds and flashing lights.

We had to assemble a circuit board by identifying the correct resistors so that the right amount of current would go to the PICAXE, which is basically the brain of the robot. To do this, we soldered and secured all resistors, components, and wires to the circuit boards. We had to be super careful, because the resistors were 1-10 millimetres and losing one of these parts can ruin the whole machine. We assembled other parts, like the light receiver and the programming port.

Overall it was a great experience. We felt privileged to have this opportunity to learn with other students as well gain some new insight into computer engineering. It has piqued our interest in electronics and we are looking forward to learning more.