Article contributed by Nick of the Robo Roos team.

The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an annual competition held in many regional events throughout the world. The Robo Roos, a local Adelaide team are the first and only South Australian team to enter, and will be competing in the Hawaiian event this year.

The Robo Roos have been tasked to build a robot which will compete in this year’s challenge, ‘Ultimate Ascent’. In doing this they will develop skills in planning, construction, electronics, and programming, inspiring the next generation of engineers. Due to the numerous costs and time constraints, this is only possible with the generous sponsorship provided by Don Alan and others.

Thanks to Don Alan, The Robo Roos have been able to recover several Black Jaguar motor controllers. Essential for moving the robot, these Black Jaguars were damaged in the FRC event held in Sydney last year. The Robo Roos have learned from the past mistakes which caused this damage and are ready to compete again thanks to help from Stephen Matulick of Don Alan.

These Black Jaguars were put to use ASAP, enabling the robot to drive. Movement is a small but important step towards being competitive in the Hawaii national event, and thanks to Don Alan, the Robo Roos are that much closer to reaching their goal.

“Our team is made up of so many students, because there’s so much work that goes into this robot. Without our generous sponsors we wouldn’t be able to do everything required – though we certainly can learn how from Don Alan.” said team member Nick.