MATTHEW CATTIN

Last updated16:54, February 23 2017

MATTHEW CATTIN/FAIRFAX NZ

Isaac Kirkwood with his robot Janet.

A four-wheeled late night creation dubbed 'Janet' has beaten the best bots in the country.

The robot, built by Orewa College student Isaac Kirkwood, took out a national senior robotics championship at ACG Strathallan, after topping a series of challenges.

Facing competitors from eight schools around the country, the year 12 student put Janet through the paces with several rounds of manual and autonomous tasks.

The competition demands "on the fly adaptations" throughout, Isaac says, and to find an advantage, the robots have to be reprogrammed and rebuilt between rounds.

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"You can't just sit there twiddling your thumbs," he says.

All of Janet's functions, from the sensitivity of the controller joystick to the range of its movements, were programmed by Isaac using computer coding.

Throughout the day, Isaac - sometimes in an alliance with rival schools - outscored his competitors, and came away with the win.

Orewa College science teacher Nish Rabeendran says that despite the win, the school was very close to not entering the competition this year, due to its timing.

Scheduled to line up with schools in the USA, the competition date meant students have to dedicate time in their holidays.

When all of Orewa College's robotics team but Isaac pulled out due to other commitments, Rabeendran says he figured he would give it up, and enter a team in 2018.

But Isaac wasn't to be dissuaded.

Leaving things until last minute, Isaac spent much of the evening before competition day watching movies with a friend.

It wasn't until later that night, he got to work on the robot.

"I'm really grateful he took the whole thing on. It's amazing we even had a robot to enter," Rabeendran says.

Janet is built from the school's robotic kit set, gifted to Orewa College by Kiwi First, a robotics charitable trust.

Rabeendran, who applied for the Kiwi First grant, hopes to see robotics take off at the college, and says it's the perfect blend of science, digital technology and fun.

Last year, Isaac represented the school at the Massey University STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths) Challenge.

As part of the Orewa College technology team, Isaac created a paperless Duke of Edinburgh award app to win the challenge.

-Rodney Times

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School robotics competition taken out by four-wheeled 'Janet' - Stuff.co.nz