RoboCup continued to inspire strong interest among GCC students this year, with 18 Middle School students taking part in the RoboCup Junior SPIKE Prime Challenge. Throughout Term 2, Monday mornings were filled with energy as students collaborated to design, build, code, test and refine their robots in preparation for the national competition.
This year’s challenge, Survivors of the Future: Robots on a New World, required students to design and build a robot capable of exploring an unknown environment, document their engineering journey through a learning journal, and produce a video demonstrating both their robot and the thinking behind its design. While technical skill remained central, many teams also embraced the creative side of the challenge, developing engaging storylines, characters and themed presentations to bring their robots to life.
A total of 102 teams from across Australia entered the competition, with Queensland once again proving to be one of the strongest and most competitive divisions. The results were announced at the recent SPIKE Prime Challenge presentation evening, with GCC students achieving excellent results in this highly competitive field.
An outstanding achievement came from Year 9 students Isaac Choi, Oscar Landrie and Byron Lange, who joined a student from another secondary school to form an independent team. Their innovative entry was awarded first place in Queensland, continuing an impressive record after placing in the competition each year for the past four years.
Glasshouse also claimed second place with Year 9 students Jacob Ferrari, Valentina Lo Caldwell and Marley Roy. Their robot explored the human body as a metaphorical “new world”, navigating the bloodstream to detect and eliminate harmful pathogens while protecting healthy cells. Judges were particularly impressed by the team’s imaginative interpretation of the theme and their ability to combine scientific understanding with creative engineering.
Although they narrowly missed a podium finish, two additional Glasshouse teams received high commendation after judges commented that they were only fractions away from placing. Year 8 students Matilda Dawson, Hannah Rae, Anika Taylor and Elijah Watson-Brown designed a robot inspired by animal adaptations to explore the largely uncharted polar regions, constructing habitats and delivering supplies in one of Earth’s harshest environments. Meanwhile, Year 7 students Amelia-Rose Detering, Lois Finley, Gemma Imhof and Erica Schmidt created a crab-inspired robot to explore the icy oceans of Jupiter’s moon Europa in search of a unique underwater crystal that could help combat climate change on Earth. Their creative presentation, complete with choreography alongside their robot, delighted the judges.
As a result of their success, our second-place team earned a Modern Teaching Aids (MTA) voucher, which will be used to further develop and expand Glasshouse Christian College’s robotics program.
Congratulations to every student involved. Their creativity, perseverance, collaboration and willingness to embrace both engineering and innovation made this another outstanding year for robotics at GCC.
Lisa Allum, Head of High Potential Student Development
