Bush bots are back in 2022

Wee Waa High School’s legendary Bush Bots robotic team has rebooted and recharged, receiving the judge’s award at the FIRST International Robotics competition held in Wollongong on March 11, 12 and 13.

The lifting of COVID-19 restrictions signalled ‘lift-off’ for the popular contest, with high school and community teams from NSW and Victoria thrilled to be able to travel and compete again.

This year’s WWHS robotics team members include Emily Wong, Brody Slee, Caitlyn Coutts-Smith, Josie Galagher, Sara-Jane Horne and Mackenzie Jones.

The students are fortunate to have a talented support crew and are being guided and mentored by science/ technological and applied studies teacher Steve Catt, science teacher Caitlin Taylor, WWHS technology support officer Jo Horne and her husband Peter, along with their son, former Bush Bot team member and WWHS graduate Michael Horne.

The theme for 2022 is ‘Rapid React’ and that’s exactly what the WWHS team had to do when they found out they were able to travel to the competition just two weeks before it started, following the easing of school excursion COVID-19 restrictions. It was all hands-on deck to build this year’s robot and induct a new team, but WWHS students and staff are resilient and they rallied to overcome the different hurdles they faced.

“That’s why we got the judge’s award, for our perseverance despite having challenges during the build and in the lead up to the competition,” said Mrs Horne.

“The team performed really well under pressure, they came together and were all willing to step up and do what needed to be done.”

Recently, there’s been a focus on encouraging more females to enter the science, technology, engineering and maths space, so Mrs Horne said it was exciting to have five girls join the robotics team this year.

“It’s great and it’s really good to be mentoring a group with so many girls in it,” she said.

“It might not end up being a field they stay in or their career choice but it’s exciting to have the girls so interested, usually there’s more boys in the team

“Brody has also been doing a great job and I think they all came back from the weekend with much more confidence.

“It’s good to show them that it’s about more than just robotics: it’s about working together as a team, it’s about leadership and it’s about learning new skills.”