5 posts tagged with "first"

🏆Huge Congrats to Team Iron Lions (AU) & Kryptonite (IN) – Winners of the FIRST Tech Challenge (hashtag#FTC) Robot Game @ Asia Pacific Championship 2025! 🎉👏 I accidentally stepped into the TOUGH role: Queuer, a.k.a. The Runner 🏃‍♂️💨 as I returned to Macquarie University to volunteer at this epic event!

Equipped with my walkie-talkie 📻, I was on the move all day between the MQ Theatre 🎭, Practice Fields ⚙️, and the Pits 🔧, chasing down teams and making sure they were ready for their matches! It is not easy...

20 incredible teams 🌍 from Australia, New Zealand, Romania, USA, China, South Korea, UAE, and India – all bringing their A-game to the hashtag#FTC arena! 🤩 And wow – the hashtag#robots were sleek, smart, and absolutely mind-blowing 🤯✨. The design, hashtag#innovation, and hashtag#teamwork behind each one left me speechless. This is what hashtag#STEM is all about! 💡🛠️

✨ Special moment for me this time – my daughter finally hit the minimum age to volunteer 🎉 and joined me for the first time! 💕 So proud to share this experience with her. (Guess who she is in one of the pics? 😄📸)

Big shoutout to our incredible queuer squad: Shie (MQ Student) & Umar (Y9 Student) and me, led by the legendary Jo (15 years voluntering) 💪🔥. Can’t believe how intense this role is… I couldn't feel my legs by the end of the day 😅 (started at 7AM and wrapped up at 5PM!).

Huge shoutout to all the brilliant teams, coaches, volunteers, judges, and referees (Jo, Mark, Garry, Mary-Jane, Jim) 🙌 - and a massive appreciation to the amazing event organisers FIRST Australia (Lisa, Aaron, Will) who ran the show behind the scenes! 🎯👏

Wanna be part of an event like this, don't hesitate - jump in, volunteer, and experience the energy, teamwork, hashtag#GraciousProfessionalism (clap, clap, cheer!).

✨FIRST LEGO League Asia Pacific Open Championships 2025 – This Time, I'm a Judge! ⚖️ Unforgettable experience to be part of the hashtag#FLL hashtag#APOC 2025 again, but this year, not as a coach… as a judge! 💼💙

Over four incredible days, 59 amazing teams from all around the world gathered for this international celebration of robotics, innovation, and teamwork through the FIRST LEGO League at Macquarie University. And on Day 3 (Saturday), it was our turn to dive deep into the brilliance of these young minds. 'Sadly'🧐, Judges don't get to join the epic harbour cruise with 600+ students, coaches, and volunteers! We've got serious business to handle! ⚖️

These are what we celebrated and assessed during judging! All guided by the heart of hashtag#FIRST: Gracious Professionalism (clap, clap, cheer, 👏👏🎉) 🔹 Core Values 🔹 Innovation Project 🔹 Robot Design 🔹 Engineering Excellence, Breaking through 🔹 Rising All-star, Motivation

After 4 jam-packed hours of presentations, show cases and Q&A, the judges spent the whole afternoon in passionate deliberation process (yes, we were really into it, until 6pm, with closed curtains!). Each of us proudly advocated for the teams that wowed us most with creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration. 💬🔥

🎉 Congratulations to all 59 teams! You've earned your place on this stage, and you've shown the world what determination, teamwork, and innovation look like.

What stood out most to me? Seriously, these robots were awesome 🤖! Every team brought contagious energy, optimism, and passion, and it reminded me why I love being part of this community. 💙 🧠 Bold ideas 💡 Imaginative thinking 💪 Unshakable resilience 🤝 Unstoppable team spirit

Huge shoutout to the organizers (Will, Aaron), 28 judges (Melinda, Hester, Garry, Luke, Mary-Jane, Wil, Peter, Dawud), volunteers (Jack, and lots, lots of them), students, coaches, and mentors who made hashtag#APOC2025 such a magical experience. It's no small feat bringing together teams from across the globe, you did it with heart, precision, and joy.

So proud to be part of the hashtag#FIRST community, helping inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers, and world-changers. 🚀🌟

FIRST Robotics Competition Southern Cross Regional today - my very first time volunteering at FRC! It's the second day of the REEFSCAPE season at Penrith Valley Regional Sports Centre, and I'm already in awe of the ⚡ energy, 🔧 innovation, and 🤝 teamwork on display.

FRC is the ultimate sport for the mind ✨, where 40+ high school student teams take on real-world engineering challenges, designing and building industrial-sized robots from a kit of parts to compete in an intense, fast-paced game. But beyond the robots, it's about creativity, problem-solving, and teamwork, all guided by the spirit of GraciousProfessionalism.

This year's challenge, REEFSCAPE 🌊, is all about using engineering to strengthen one of the ocean's most diverse habitats. It's inspiring to see young minds tackling big problems and shaping the future of STEM.

It was a great pleasure to reconnect with old friends (Garry & Jack), see familiar faces, and make new connections! Exciting to witness teams like 'AI3' showcasing their AI-powered robot, an incredible display of innovation! 🤩🤖

A huge congratulations to Melinda for the 'Woodie Flowers Finalist Award' and to Mark for being 'Volunteer of the Year'! The awards are the perfect recognition of your dedication and countless contributions over so many years. 👏🎉

It's been a long day from 7 AM to 6:30 PM ⏳, but I've gained a whole new appreciation for the impact of FIRST empowering students and fostering a strong STEM community. Excited for the final day of the competition tomorrow! 🚀

Be a volunteer at FIRSTRobotics Competition's Southern Cross Regional like me in March 2025, together we will bring this epic event to life! 🤖 If you think robots and AI might take over the world, this might just be ground zero! ⚡

No experience? No problem! There's a role for everyone, and trust me - you'll find something you love. Lucky me, I got assigned to Field Reset role for my first time at the event ! 🚀 Can't wait to be in the middle of the action, helping teams compete at their best.

🔥 Curious? Check out the video from earlier season below, get involved, and join us! Let's make this an unforgettable experience for these incredible teams.

FRC Southern Cross Regional (Reefscape Season) 📅 March 7 (Fri) to March 9 (Sunday), 2025 📍 Penrith Valley Regional Sports Centre, NSW Australia

Good luck and see you at the competition! 🎊 🔗 Game & Session info: https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc/game-and-season 🔗 Register as a volunteer: https://www.firstinspires.org/ways-to-help/volunteer

Thank you Will & Daniela for organizing and running the awesome events for us!

No longer qualified as an 'engineer' after my first FTC , guess I'll have to stick with 'Software Engineer' from now on. 😅

Volunteering at the FTC Nationals today Macquarie University was both inspiring and humbling. I walked in feeling confident in my skills and walked out realizing the FTC teams operate on an entirely different level. 🧠💻

My job today? Keeping the two practice fields in order. 🏟️ And hey, looks like I did an okay job at that! ✅ Meanwhile, the FTC teams were out there pushing the boundaries of what I thought was possible. Watching them work was like seeing a masterclass in precision, creativity, and pure technical brilliance.

A huge congratulations to the winning teams! 🏆 And a big shoutout to all the volunteers who made the day run smoothly - it's not just a competition; it's a community effort. Special kudos to Will & Daniela for their amazing work! 👏