Who we are
We are the FIRST® Robotics Competition team of Normanhurst Boys High School, an academically selective public school. The team consists of 35 volunteer students from years 7 to 12.
Our team aims to become the premier FIRST® public school team, while simultaneously providing our students with valuable STEM and real world skills that will assist them in their later education and careers.
What is the FIRST® Robotics Competition?
The FIRST® Robotics Competition is a competition that aims to inspire students typically aged 14 to 18 in science, technology and engineering through competitive robotics.
Each year, a new game is announced, and teams are required to build a robot that fits this game; different functions will have to be performed with every game.
Our current robot
This year, our robot was capable of climbing to the middle rung of the hangar and shooting into the lower hub. Later, we made developments to allow it to shoot into the upper hub.
Intake
The intake funnels cargo into our shooter.
The intake of our robot uses wheels that rotate inwards to the robot, powered by a REV Robotics Neo BLDC on a belt. As the cargo enters our shooter, it is centered passively with a custom machined plate.
Shooter
The shooter mechanism allows us to shoot cargo into the upper hub.
The shooter of our robot is comprised of a dual fly wheel system; one providing power and another auxiliary wheel controlling backspin. The cargo is belt fed into the shooter, allowing the storage of multiple cargo.
Shooting is aided by our vision alignment system which assists our driver in quickly lining up for shots.
Climber
The climber allows us to gain a point advantage in the endgame by climbing to an elevated rung.
It utilizes a winch system which consists of a custom ratcheting mechanism and a CIM Motor for its high reliability and force output.
Drive-base
The drive-base allows the robot to be mobile.
We use west-coast tank drive for our drive-base: 6 cantilevered wheels (3 on each side) are powered by 4 Falcon 500 motors (2 on each side).
Achievements
We have been competing in the FIRST® Robotics Competition nearly since its creation in 2012, and we have since attained several achievements. We were awarded with the Robot Design Award in 2015 and 2017, won the Australian Regional in 2019, were named runners-up for the Inspire Award in the Australian Regional in 2016, represented Australia in the Asia Pacific Invitational in 2017 and won the Rapid React #2 off-season competition in 2022.
