Adelaide Botanic High School wins a place in the VEX Robotics World Final

On Saturday 6 March 2021, five teams of students from Adelaide Botanic High School competed in the VEX Robotics State Championship at the Adelaide Convention Centre. The students from ABHS competed against dozens of technology students from around South Australia, as more than 50 teams from 15 schools came together to compete in the championship.

Four ABHS teams made it through to the quarter finals, two ABHS teams made it through to the semifinals, and one ABHS team won Tournament Champion.

The ABHS team who won Tournament Champion, thus securing their place in the VEX Robotics World Final in May this year, is comprised of Year 11 students, Cherie Htun, Duncan Creamer, Elke Milne, and Liam Potter.

Choosing to take on this competition as an extra-curricular project, the four students have dedicated hundreds of hours to prototyping and refining their robot, in addition to many more hours spent on their engineering notebook documenting their processes, analysis and decisions.

“I was interested in learning to use different programs and applications, like CAD, and assessing some career options. It’s also great to put on the resume,” said Elke about why she wanted to be involved in the competition.

While this is Cherie, Duncan and Liam’s first year competing in the VEX Robotics competition, Elke had an additional year of experience to bring to the team. With a particular interest in the STEM field, the four students have their sights set on careers including engineering, computer science, and cyber security, with three of the four students currently undertaking a VET course in cyber security.

“Everyone really wanted to be at the competition. It was a great opportunity to refine our teamwork skills. We not only worked with our own team members, but we also worked with teams from other schools in SA and interstate,” said Liam.

Three ABHS teams also won the Excellence, Innovation and Build Awards.