Help aspiring NZ engineers compete in Australia

We’re team Athena, four ambitious year 13 students from Pakuranga College.

Three years ago, we set out on a challenging journey: to create an autonomous soccer-playing robot that competes in RoboCup Junior NZ. Rather than taking the traditional route, by making LEGO robots, we went above and beyond, using real electronics, 3D printing the robot, designing our own circuit boards, and writing code from scratch.

After three years, pouring hundreds of hours into creating them, and around $1500 spent, we were disappointed to find out that the competition was cancelled, due to a last minute drop out by a private school. We have been left with the cost of booked tickets to Nelson and are incredibly disappointed to be unable to have our robot compete.

We don’t want our many hours of hard work and creativity to go to waste. This is why we have decided to create a fundraiser so we can afford to travel to Australia and compete at the Australian Robocup.

We want to represent both Pakuranga College and New Zealand on the international stage, showing what Kiwi ingenuity can achieve. From what we’ve seen and heard, we think our robot is at the standard needed to compete in Australia.

Now, we need your help. We’re aiming to raise $8000 to cover travel and accommodation costs to compete in RoboCup Jr Australian Nationals. Help aspiring New Zealand engineers show what we can do!