By Luke Voogt
Six Geelong students will take their robotic talents to Sydney next month following their success at a statewide competition.
Belmont’s Seth Wilkinson joined his team-mates high-fiving the competition’s judges after earning the right to represent Victoria.
“It was surreal,” the 12-year-old said.“When they called out our names we were all so happy.”
He and his Geelong Lutheran College schoolmates designed the ‘YASHEK Smart Shower’ which helped earn them the interstate trip.
“We named it the after the last letter of everybody in the group’s first name,” he explained.
The device diverts cold water at the start of a shower into a tank – to be recycled later – until the temperature hits 35C.
The device also sends a five-second cold water pulse after four minutes of showering and automatically turns off after eight.
The Grade 6 team competed against 39 other schools in First Lego League Competition at Swinburne University.
Emily Langton, Rosie Gowans, Zara McCoach-Cripps, Thomas Pickles and Jack Schurmann joined Seth on the team of robotic enthusiasts.
“We’re all a bit different,” he said. “It’s a really good group of people and we’re all actually good friends outside of robotics.
“We disagree sometimes which is actually good because we get to hear each other’s side of the story.”
Geelong Lutheran College primary co-ordinator Jane Hollett was proud of the team.
“All members of the team have worked diligently, encouraged each other and learnt many life skills,” she said.
The students also programmed a Lego robot to complete a set of water-related challenges.
Barwon Water education officer Fernando Garcia, who supported the project, said the students had done an extraordinary job, demonstrating creativity and technical nous.
“It has been great to work with these students and see them thinking outside the square and adopting technology to solve real world problems.”
