Support Youth STEM in Victoria
Our ambition is to establish an annual off-season FIRST®Robotics Competition (FRC) in Victoria in 2022 expanding an existing successful and highly engaging STEM programme for age 14-18 students (i.e., FIRST Robotics Competition).
Currently there are no full-field Australian FRC competitions hosted in Victoria. This limits the ability of Victorian teams to participate. Typically, it takes between $10,000-20,000 AUD annually for a team to register for the competition and build a robot. The addition of interstate transport and accommodation costs put FRC competitions outside the reach of many aspiring Victoria teams.
A Victorian competition will provide a more affordable entry point for new Victorian teams (and possibly Tasmanian and South Australian teams as well) and make it easier for local schools to participate. It will also bring interstate and potentially international teams to Victoria to compete. The Sydney competition attracts teams from China, India and Indonesia.
How can you help?
To run a FRC event in Victoria will require the one-off purchase of field equipment (e.g., field perimeter, field electronics) and recurring costs such as the rental of suitable event facilities and transportation of season specific game elements between NSW and Victoria.
Ultimately, we hope that the field equipment purchased to run the event could also be used at interstate events around Australia throughout the calendar year.
Contact us to discuss how you can help us foster FRC in the southern Australian states.
If you are not ready or able to provide a cash sponsorship, then perhaps consider volunteering or mentoring one of our Victorian Teams.