Robotics and Engineering Technology

MR MARK LOCKETT head of robotics and engineering technology

Engineers don’t sit back and watch – they make things happen! Using innovation, creativity and a wealth of knowledge, engineering students at TSS have the potential to impact the world in the years to come. Most of tomorrow’s services and products will have some element of engineering involved in their conception and development. Being involved in subjects like Robotics, Engineering and Design allows students to enhance and develop their future skills in this exciting area.

The Year 8 Robotics program introduced a new project using drones and coding. Students coded the drone using the Swift Playgrounds app on the iPads. The activities include basic flighting skills and then advanced to programming the Parrot Mambo drones to complete various obstacle courses in the new drone netted safety area. Swift Playgrounds is a text-based computer language and is easy to program and debug with. Swift Playgrounds provides a vital link between using icon-based languages to coding with more complicated text based languages. The numbers of students increased in the Year 9 Robotics program in 2018, with two full classes during Semester One, the Robotics room was a hive of coding and construction. The VEX EDR robotics system was introduced to the Year 9 Robotics course this year. VEX EDR is a metal-based robot construction system and students were able to build bigger and more complicated robots than before. VEX EDR is coded using the Industry standard computer language called ‘C’. ‘C’ in the form of Robot-C is a textbased language and used extensively in the Robotic and Electronic Engineering fields. The culmination of the VEX unit was competing at the Gold Coast VEX Robotic Competition held at TSS. Lachlan Free won the event after many hard-fought rounds against teams from Upper Coomera College, Southport State High School and Merrimac State High School.

The new Drone Flight Simulator software proved highly useful with the Year 10 Engineering course. Students were able to practice their drone flying skills on the computer before heading down to the ovals and using the DJI Phantoms and Mavic drones. Many students commented on the ease of flying the real drones once they had mastered the basics on the computer. In addition to the Civil Engineering Dome Design and the aeronautical glider project, the Year 10 Engineering students worked on developing their technical writing skills in readiness for the new 2019 senior Engineering subject.

The senior Engineering Technology subject saw larger numbers of students selecting the Year 11 Course in 2018. From studying metallurgy to constructing prototype gantry sign structures, the Year 11 students were exposed to many engineering concepts and theories. The Year 12 students once again undertook their CASA Remote Pilot Drone licence under the guidance of The Little Ripper Aviation Academy. The Year 12 Engineering Technology students were introduced to flying racing drones this year. Racing drones are fast and highly manoeuvrable and do not have built in stability like the DJI’s. This means that the pilot has to react to the drone’s environment at a much faster rate. Outside of the classroom, the Robotics and Engineering department’s facilities were featured on Channel Seven’s Sunrise weather section during the Commonwealth Games. With over 30 students showcasing drones and robotics, our programs were a hit with the broadcasters.

The afterschool Young Engineers’ Society continued to grow with many students using the time to complete classroom assessment or develop new skills and interest in robotics, 3D printing and drone racing.