Over the past few months, Barker Redbacks and Greybacks, our senior school robotics teams, have been hard at work building their robots for the 2025 FIRST Robotics Competitions to compete in Australia, Taiwan, and China over two weekends in March. While the Barker Redbacks competed locally at the Southern Cross Regional, a team of nine students travelled overseas to represent the Barker Greybacks in Taiwan. For the Shanghai regional in China, three additional students joined the rest of the group, bringing the Redbacks robot along to compete together in the tournament. All that effort paid off, leading to some incredible results.
Barker Redbacks, after a lot of well-played strategies against strong teams from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia managed to seed 1st and take home the win alongside with the Industrial Design Award at the Southern Cross Regional in Sydney.
This great achievement was made possible by the collective efforts of a team of about 20 students. Whether it was scouting from the stands or supporting the drive team, every member played an essential role in the 3-day competition.
For many Year 10 students, this was their first experience at a FRC competition. Chloe, a member of the drive team, captured the excitement when she shared,
It was a cool experience! Everyone I spoke to was really friendly, and it was great fun talking to some different people. I remember doing the match strategy the most, as I had to think a bit, but older students helped me through a lot of it. Being on the drive team was also fun - it felt like I was more immersed in the game and was more exciting!
Meanwhile, on the same weekend, the Barker Greybacks were making their mark in the New Taipei City Regional. The competition was tough, and while a few matches didn’t go their way initially, the team keep up with determination. They climbed their way to 11th seed and were picked by the 3rd alliance to join forces in the playoffs. At the end, the Greybacks secured the title of winners in one of our biggest comebacks ever.
Team Captain Toby, who stepped in as driver for the first time, expressed his pride and excitement, saying,
Driving the robot in Taipei was an amazing experience. Being able to take the robot through finals undefeated, and then win the competition was truly something special. The performance was overall a really great reflection of all the hard work from everyone that went into building and running the robot at the competition.
After the incredible weekend, both teams quickly packed their robots into suitcases and flew to China for the Shanghai Regional.
In Shanghai, the challenges escalated! It was an intense experience, especially as many students were new on the team, but it was full of learning opportunities for everyone.
The Barker Redbacks captained Alliance 5, while the Greybacks were invited to join Alliance 4. The Greybacks made it to the quarterfinals, while the Redbacks fought their way to the finals against 1st Alliance, playing their best matches until the very end, where they lost by 8 points (179-171).
Despite the intense competition, the Redbacks ended as Competition Finalists and brought home the Imagery Award - that celebrates attractiveness in engineering and outstanding visual aesthetic integration of machine and team appearance. "This is an exceptional team. Their robot features a modular design, ensuring quick repairs and component replacement. The integrated CNC aluminum alloy chassis guarantees both structural stability and lightweight efficiency." said the judges when announcing the award for the Barker Redbacks.
Jacqueline, a member of the drive team, reflected on the experience, sharing.
It was a great time driving 8613 robot at Shanghai Regional, I earned lots of new experience with robot control and strategy. Really appreciated when some local teams supported us by helping us print new parts, lending electronics etc. I also managed to have some deeper communication with a couple of teams, which was really cool!
Both the Barker Redbacks and Greybacks are now getting prepared for the FRC World Championship, which will take place from April 16th to 19th in Houston, USA. The entire team will embark on this exciting journey to represent Australia on the global stage.
