FEATURE ARTICLES: TECHNOLOGY
CGS WINS NATIONAL ICT COMPETITION In November, CGS students Joseph Fergusson and Rory Wade represented Canberra at the 2016 Young ICT Explorers (YICTE) National Competition where they took home first place in the National Final. Rory and Joseph, along with team partner Ines Kusen of Telopea College, also won the Canberra YICTE Year 9–10 Division with their rescue robot. Rory and Ines won the same division in the ACT last year and placed 3rd in the National Competition. In July this year, the trio competed in the Robocup Junior International Final in Leipzig, and whilst technical difficulties prevented the team from reaching the finals in the Junior Rescue Maze League, Rory received a prestigious Flower Robotics Design Award. This was the first time a junior competitor has received the award, which was judged across all leagues of the Robocup Competition, including universities from around the world. Rory received the award for the general aesthetics of the robot and the Mechanical Articulated Suspension System (MASS) that he designed and built throughout last year. This mechanism allowed the robot to maintain four points of contact with the ground, even when manoeuvring across large debris on the rescue field. Joseph, Ines and Rory also received the Best Hardware Award in their League. After the Robocup, the team continued to a cultural exchange programme in Dubrovnik, Croatia, where together with the Croatian National Robotics Team, they conducted several robotics workshops with disadvantaged Croatian students. They were accompanied in Leipzig and Dubrovnik by a small delegation of CGS staff on a Staff Professional Excellence Fund technology tour. The staff also had the chance to continue on to visit the Croatian Centre for Technology Education.
This October, Rory travelled to Perth to complete his Year 10 work experience with WesTrac, gaining insight into the operation and management of the very large autonomous fleet of vehicles used in the mining industry all over the world. He said he ‘found this experience an invaluable insight into the commercial applications of design and technology, and will transfer elements of this experience to the Young ICT Explorers Competition to improve the commercial feasibility of the robot’. The improved version of the team’s robot makes greater use of digital fabrication technologies, with the ambition of supplying the robot to a global education market in kit form. The School community wishes Joseph, Ines and Rory the best of luck for the competition. From 2017 onward, the renovated ADT facilities will support the growing trend of digital design entrepreneurship at Canberra Grammar School. The facility will include a large central digital maker space in which students will be able to design and manufacture almost any project imaginable using rapid prototyping technologies. For more information visit ROBOCUP2016.ORG/EN and YOUNGICTEXPLORERS.NET.AU
WORLD-FIRST TRIAL OF HOLOGRAPHIC LEARNING IN THE CLASSROOM Canberra Grammar School, the University of Canberra and Pearson Education have formed a partnership to conduct a world-first trial of holographic learning in the classroom. Canberra Grammar School is the only trial site in Australia, and is the only school in the world trialling this technology. Pearson Education is the official launch partner for Microsoft’s brand-new product HoloLens, the world’s first untethered mixed-reality system. HoloLens allows the user to place and interact with holograms within their real-world environment and, combined with the advanced spatial awareness capabilities of HoloLens, allows for both holographic content and real-world objects to coexist and interact. Matthew Purcell, Head of Digital Innovation at Canberra Grammar School, is excited to see the possibilities of this emerging technology in the classroom environment. 22 | CGS Outlook | Semester Two 2016
‘Holographic technology has the potential to change the learning experience in a fundamental way. Some concepts are very difficult to understand when presented with a 2D representation, but once you introduce both 3D combined with spatial awareness and interaction, these concepts can be communicated in a very different way’. Professor Robert Fitzgerald from the University of Canberra’s STEM Education Research Centre (SERC) and Director, INSPIRE Centre for Innovation in Education and Training, is leading the evaluation aspect of the trial: ‘HoloLens is a novel