Tauranga teenagers are punching above their weight in the world of robotics. Of 17 teams from around New Zealand that have qualified for the VEX Robotics World Championships in Dallas, USA, next month – four are from Bay of Plenty.

'You should be very proud of the local teams that compete,” says Michelle Hazeleger-Mollard.

As national operations manager of robotics education company, KiwiBots, she's impressed by the innovation of the teens and the dedication of their support teams.

'Its credit to the teachers and staff at Otūmoetai College and STEAM-Ed Charitable Trust that their students are achieving such high results,” says Michelle. 'They give up their time for the kids.”

Kiwibots distribute VEX Robotics across NZ, enabling students to learn software coding, mechanical design and complex problem solving to build a robot that completes a series of tasks.

Inspiring

'The gamification of learning creates a more engaging experience while also encouraging teamwork, collaboration and out-of-the box thinking,” says Michelle.

'We're inspiring the next generation of engineers. These kids get snapped up by companies that love that they're already proficient in soft and hard IT skills.”

Otūmoetai College Robotics has launched a Givealittle page to raise the $70,000 needed to get eight students and two adults over to the US to compete from April25-May 4 at the VEX Robotics World Championship. They'll be among 25,000 kids from 65 countries.

Fourteen-year-old Corbyn Patterson loves the challenge of taking the design from paper to reality and the last-minute scrambling to find solutions.

'We had to pull apart our original robot and start from scratch due to team changes. We actually built a chassis in six hours to compete at a scrimmage.”

Sixteen-year-old Emily Aldridge is also excited by the chance to represent New Zealand.

'I've been doing robotics for about four years and I've competed at nationals twice, so getting through to Dallas is amazing. The competition is huge and will be a great learning experience seeing what teams around the world have come up with.”

Deserve the chance

Michelle says the Bay of Plenty's four teams will be fierce competitors and deserve the chance to go.

'It's an incredible feat that of the 13 times NZ kids have competed at the world champs, we've won titles on 12 occasions. That's super impressive. Anyone thinking about supporting them to make the most of the opportunity absolutely should.”

If you'd like to donate to Otūmoetai College Robotics, visit: https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/otumoetai-college-to-world-robotics-championships