I Need Website’s sponsorship of RoboCoast helps teach tomorrow’s coders today

I Need Website has recently partnered with RoboCoast, an enthusiastic group of teachers who assist each other to introduce and teach robotics in our schools. I’ll tell you more about this sponsorship later. First let me tell you about this forward-thinking group.

From the left to the right: Edward Omagbemi – Digital marketing team I Need Website, Simon Richardson – engineering and Robotics Lead Teacher, secretary RoboCoast, Alex Merenkov – founder and web developer I Need Website

RoboCoast is a network where teachers across the Sunshine Coast can share their knowledge and experience of robotics. The group uses games and competitions to introduce school students to robotics and coding. RoboCoast are the local organisers of a national robotics event called RoboRAVE Australia.

Simon Richardson, Secretary of RoboCoast said robotics brings together skills and concepts from Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths in a lively and exciting way. It’s not just for older students either. Some schools teach robotics from Year 3.

Robotics is more popular and more accessible than in the past. This is largely due to the robot-building packages put out by Lego. Students can build their own robots with familiar Lego pieces. There is no welding or soldering to be done. The coding has been simplified too.

At the RoboCoast events students get to construct sumo wrestling robots and test them out against their peers. A sumobot is programmed to fight another robot in a small sumo ring. Sumobots attempt to push each other out of the ring. Students must code the robots so they are autonomous, not hand-operated.

When the students programme the sumo robots, they add sensors. The robots use the sensors to detect other robots. The robots are making decisions, flipping their arms and applying power to the wheels.

‘When the robots are in the ring, the students are absolutely screaming their lungs out with excitement. They love that they’ve created something that seems to have a life of its own,’ Mr Richardson said.

Looking ahead, ‘The largest companies used to be software companies and now they are hardware companies.

‘We’re trying to get kids ready for a future workforce which requires an understanding of codes, sensors, automation, AI, virtual reality and augmented reality. This can all be introduced through robotics.

‘The general skills that come out of robotics and coding can be applied throughout society. Take an electrician. If they are putting in a home security system, they need to deal with sensors and code and augmented reality.’

Alex Merenkov director of I Need Website said, ‘Coding is at the basis of everything we do. When a business owner wants an app, that’s a coding job. We make customised websites directly from code. As a technology company, being able to code gives us great flexibility. Without coding we could not innovate. With code we can give business owners what they want rather than an approximation of what they want.

‘That’s why it’s such a pleasure to support RoboCoast. Coders to coders, we speak the same language,’ Mr Merenkov said.

So how is I Need Website helping RoboCoast?

‘Our team built a sophisticated website for RoboCoast. That’s how we first met. After that we decided to get involved as a sponsor.

‘We manage the website at no charge. We keep the content up to date. We run the maintenance tasks. We also take care of their social media. We’re very happy to be involved with RoboCoast,’ Mr Merenkov said.

Mr Richardson said, ‘RoboCoast really appreciates I Need Website’s valuable contribution. Their ongoing help frees up a lot of time from our volunteers who were previously managing the website. Now they can get down to the core business of teaching robotics.

‘We certainly couldn’t have such a professional looking website with such functionality without Alex and his team.’