An Australian FIRST: Sydney students win prestigious robotics award

For the first time ever, a team from Australia has been announced as the winner of the Chairman’s Award at the 2017 FIRST Championship held in Houston, Texas.

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) was founded to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology. The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), held earlier this year, brings together students and mentors to build robots that perform in a competitive environment against teams from all over the world.

Thunder Down Under, hosted by Macquarie University and comprising students from more than 40 high schools across Sydney, is the first Australian team to win the Chairman’s Award — the highest honour given at the FRC Championship, recognising the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the purpose and goals of FIRST. The award is presented according to the contribution of the overall team, not just the robot, in recognition of what the team has achieved over an extended period of time.

“This is like Australia winning the America’s Cup all over again!” said Professor Michael Heimlich from Macquarie University. “Nobody expected a team outside of North America to win it and we didn’t just win it, according to the judges, the team ‘changed the paradigm’. It is a very exciting achievement.”

Heimlich has worked with Thunder Down Under since it was established eight years ago, in which time the team has created an innovative program for STEM outreach in 200 rural and remote Indigenous communities. The program has since been adapted for the inner city, even reaching homeless kids, and its impact is now felt in 12 countries in almost every continent around the world.

“The program is now in approximately 7–8% of schools in Australia and to put that in perspective, it’s only in approximately 1–2% of schools in the US. If you use that as a measure of the program, it is really more successful here than what it is in the US,” said Professor Heimlich.

There were a number of obstacles that needed to be overcome to run the FIRST program outside of the US. Being in Australia, distance, foreign exchange and cultural factors with the program starting while students are on summer holidays are all significant challenges that had to be overcome. These were removed with the help of Rockwell Automation, a FIRST Strategic Partner.

“As a valued sponsor of FIRST, Rockwell Automation helped remove one of the major stumbling blocks for running the program in Australia by providing access to parts that are usually only available in the US,” said Professor Heimlich. “They have shown a real passion in working with all kids and set up programs to support kids throughout the age groups.”

“Our staff enjoy donating their time as team mentors and competition judges, providing mutual benefits to both our volunteers and the participants alike,” said Kerryn Sakko, senior application engineer at Rockwell Automation. “FIRST is a great initiative, and by getting involved, it gives us the opportunity to help young people foster a lifelong interest in STEM while having lots of fun along the way.”