World champs isolated

ROBO CHAMPS: Maurice Tipene holds the university team trophy, celebrating the win with, from left: Andy Domagas, Eden Simpony, Ayaka Ohira and Dr Johan Potgeiter.

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A team of four Massey University students won the university category at the Vex Robotics World Championships in Dallas, Texas, at the weekend.

But the elated students were brought back to earth arriving home at Auckland airport Tuesday morning, running foul of new measures to combat the spread of swine flu.

One of the students mentioned a sore throat and runny nose, says Massey communications adviser Jennifer Little. So the entire team and managers were quarantined at home for at least a day until a health nurse checked them.

The world championship isn’t the only feather in the Massey team’s cap. The Free Range Robotics Homeschool college team, also trained by Massey engineering students at the Albany campus, won the world champion
title for programming skills. They were third in robot skills for high schools.

Described as "a high action sport for geeks" with lots of cheering and shouting, the competition drew 2000 students, teachers and coaches comprising 272 teams from 13 countries, with an estimated 1300 teams competing in regional contests around the world in the months leading up to the finals.

The win by four Massey students and their teenage proteges is "vindication that the calibre of our engineering teaching at Massey is world-ranked," School of Engineering and Advanced Technology associate head Professor Ian Maddox says. "We can compete on an equal footing with the best in the world."

Dr Johan Potgeiter, senior lecturer in mechatronics, engineering and industrial management at Massey, and competition convener for Vex in New Zealand, won Volunteer of the Year at the world championships.

Professor Maddox spearheaded the introduction of the Vex Robotics Competition to New Zealand after being inspired by a similar international robotics world championship he attended in Atlanta a year ago. He says beyond the fun, drama, action and adrenalin of robotics contests is a deeper philosophy of promoting
education and skills in technology, science, engineering and mathematics.

The other college teams at the competition were Westlake Girls High School, Avondale College and Onehunga High School.

- © Fairfax NZ News