FRENCH electro duo Daft Punk have some tough competition in the robot rock scene, as East Launceston Primary School gears up its action-ready androids for competition.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
There will be no need to delve into the world of George Lucas' Star Wars, or H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds early next month - readers can find robot dances, rescue droids and Martian battles in "real life" at Launceston own University of Tasmania campus.
The RoboCup Junior Tasmania 2015 competition will be held at the university's Sir Raymond Ferrall Centre at Newnham from 10am to 3pm on Saturday, August 8.
The event will determine which pupils have made the most accurate adjustments to their machines in pursuit of engineering and robotics success.
Event organiser and East Launceston Primary School teacher John Bardenhagen said pupils had spent many hours combing over their designs during their lunch, recess and after-school hours.
"We've been doing this since 2010 and open it each year for grade 5 and 6 students to participate," he said, as electronics whirred behind him.
He said it took pupils about 50 to 60 hours to program, design and engineer their robots.
Correct line-detecting sensors for rescue bots, carefully timed programming for dancing bots and, importantly, the right balance for attacking Martian robots are just some of the elements pupils have had to address.
East Launceston Primary School grade 6 pupil Liam Fell said it was a welcome challenge and presented fun learning opportunities for participants.
Winners from the state RoboCup competition will have the option of competing on the national stage, Mr Bardenhagen said.
