BACKThe Careers department invited two lucky students (and their parents) to come along and be spectators at the Robot Rampage World Cup held at Onehunga Mall.
Kaluo (Carol) Ye and Sofia Yu were the lucky recipients and went to the event in February.
They got to watch the world’s top bots fight their way to the finals in full-combat Featherweight (13.6kg). They experienced sparks, flips, and plenty of destruction!
Carol said they “were both absolutely blown away” at the event and she described watching the match between the USA and Australian teams as one of the “most intense and exciting things” she had ever seen. It seems the robots put on a great show, shaking the whole arena as they crashed into each other, with the sound echoing around the whole theatre. And, it all got quite close to home when one robot smashed right against the barrier where Carol and her mum were sitting! The atmosphere was electric with the whole crowd screaming and cheering in unison, with Carol saying, “it felt like the energy in the room could power the robots themselves”. The experience gave Carol a new respect for the robotic industry, including “the passion behind it all”.
Sofia had a great time too, saying the grand finale between Brazil and the USA was one of the highlights, with Brazil’s Touro Feather robot taking the win. Sofia said, “each round was far more intense than the previous and overwhelmingly exciting as they brought out various robots in different sizes and shapes.” But, the final round was her favourite, even though it was a tie. Through speaking to others, Sofia learnt more about “the robotic/engineering world” and she would definitely recommend this opportunity for others to go and see.
