Gold Coast students the robotics champions of the world

Published Tuesday, 22 August, 2017 at 10:20 AM

Minister for Education and Minister for Tourism, Major Events and the Commonwealth Games
The Honourable Kate Jones

Three Gold Coast state high school students have won an international robotics competition in Japan.

Education Minister Kate Jones today congratulated Merrimac State High School students Melanie Hanson, Bradley Cornelius and Aaron Martin for their performance to take out the Junior Category of the World Robot Summit in Tokyo this month.

“The team won the Skill Challenge and the Open Demonstration categories to take out overall first place in a wonderful result for the students and their teacher Daniel Ricardo,” Ms Jones said.

“The junior section of the School Robot Challenge Workshop and Trial Competition attracted 10 teams from countries including Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, USA, Thailand and the Netherlands.

“It is so good to see the new focus we have placed on coding and robotics by fast tracking the Digital Technologies Curriculum paying dividends for Queensland students.

“We want Queenslanders to have a competitive advantage when it comes to the jobs of the future and now we have the brilliant students at Merrimac High taking on the world.”

Ms Jones said Team #QLDCodeJapan were selected ahead of seven other Queensland schools to represent Australia at the competition.

“The team were invited to compete at the invitation of the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry,” she said.

“The Merrimac State High School students were the only competitors selected from Australia.”

Merrimac State High School Principal Chris Tobin said he congratulated his students for their winning performance at the competition.

“We are very proud of all team members and their teacher who have put in a huge effort during the competition,” Mr Tobin said.

“Our school has invested an enormous amount of energy and resources developing what we call our STEAM Academy, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths in which students are immersed from Year 7.

“The team performed well in Japan because they have excellent skills in coding, developing logic and problem solving.

“It’s not just about excelling in robotics – it’s about developing the skills students need to perform in the emerging technological society we now live in.”

Queensland will register another team to compete at the World Robot Summit in Japan in October 2018.

More information: http://worldrobotsummit.org

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