Botany Downs Secondary College attended the 123 Tech regional challenge and gained the recognition they deserved with a wildcard entry to the finals.  

The boys (Chris, Peter, Michael and Seyrong) are all year ten students with a passion for technology.  They put in lots of their own time above and beyond what was happing in the classroom to create their project. 

The idea of a robot hand came from the Microsoft STEAM courses. However, the boys modified the design to be wireless and use a micro:bit instead of the Arduino.  To do this there were many programming challenges and the boys showed great determination and resilience.

"The students and staff benefited from Troy Smith’s expertise in implementing Hacking STEM project – Machines Emulating Humans. Troy coached our student team to become the National Finalists for 123TECH 2018. We recommend his innovative ways of modifying the project using Micro:bit and other environmentally friendly components. These changes have made it more accessible and exciting for students."

Prasad Patchigalla
Head of Digital technology Department

About the 123 Tech Challange

123 Tech is a fantastic competition that, embodies everything the new strands of the Digital Technologies Curriculum is trying to achieve. It asks students to look around their community and take action to solve the problems they see. It provides the authentic context necessary to develop a wide range of skills, both technical but more importantly the so-called “soft” skills of communication and collaboration.