Brisbane boys show it’s not all about sport at RoboCup
Students from an elite Brisbane school, known for its rugby and tennis programs, are hoping to kick goals in a different kind of competition.
Brisbane Boys College has a reputation as one of the country’s most competitive in schoolboy sports tournaments.
But this week, 11 of its students are hoping to kick goals at a different kind of competition – the ‘World Cup of robotics’ in South Korea.
The boys will represent their school in three divisions at RoboCupJunior; a prestigious robotics and artificial intelligence competition.
To win, the boys must design, build and program soccer-playing robots to compete with machines from other countries.
And with no human touch allowed during the games, they’ll need to rely on artificial intelligence to do it.
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The college’s director of intellectual activities, Emily Lurje said the whole school was excited to cheer on the teams.
“We love to celebrate our robotics teams representing the school in international competitions like RoboCup because it’s a bit like our rugby teams going off to play a big GPS game,” Lurje said.
“We have an annual showcase where we present our international representatives with their kit before they go off and represent the school on the global stage.”
She said given the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, the skills students needed to build their robots extended well beyond the competition.
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“But given so many of our students are interacting with AI on a regular basis through their robot designs, we’re confident we’re giving them the tools they need today to excel in an AI-driven world.”
Brisbane Boys’ robotics program was founded at the school by retired science teacher Colin Boy in 2002.
Now with about 250 participants, robotics is one of the school’s most popular co-curricular activities, Lurje said.
School headmaster Andre Casson said artificial intelligence isn’t a topic schools should shy away from.
“There has been so much talk around the emergence or artificial intelligence and large language models in recent years,” Casson said.
“AI has certainly had an impact in the classroom and the way students interrogate information, but as a school we believe the best way to learn from new technologies is to discuss them and learn how to use them through first-hand experience.
“We’re immensely proud of all the students who compete in our robotics program … (and) we’re beyond thrilled for the 11 students who are travelling and we can’t wait to see how they perform on the world stage.”
RoboCupJunior takes place in Incheon, South Korea from June 30 to July 6.
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