They are well short of constructing anything like R2-D2, a Dalek or the HAL 9000, but who knows what robots the pupils at Green Island School could be building in the future?
The school recently received $1519.96 from the Lions Club of Green Island to buy two Lego NXT Mindstorms programmable robotics kits, which pupils are using to create their latest robots for the Otago RoboCup competition on June 20, in Dunedin.
Two teams at the school will take part in the regional competition. One is creating a robot with a Little Red Riding Hood theme, the other with a Batman theme.
Lions Club of Green Island third vice-president Matt Tobin said Green Island School supplied volunteers to assist with the club's annual fertiliser drive (loading and delivering fertiliser and garden supplies in the Greater Green Island community), and in exchange for the assistance, all profits were given to the school.
Principal Steve Hayward said without the financial assistance, the school might not have been able to afford to compete in the RoboCup event this year.
''We used to beg, borrow, steal and lease equipment to enter.
''We're so excited with the grant. It allows our children to take part.''
Despite having to scrape money together to lease robotics equipment in the past, the school was third in the junior theatre category at the Otago RoboCup last year.
Now that the school owned its own equipment, the possibilities were endless, and it was hoped the pupils could achieve even more at this year's competition, he said.
''It's like leading-edge technology.''
