Students team up to program NAO to dance!
Our favourite Everybody Dance NAO Competition was held at Bialik College on Sunday. It was presented by The Brainary in another successful partnership with Digital Learning and Teaching Victoria (DLTV).
The robotic programming contest is designed to give students access to the latest robotics software and technology. Students learn the coding language behind the advanced humanoid robot NAO, and then join other students as they code NAO to dance. Final dances are 30-45 seconds long and include expert guidance from The Brainary’s robotics specialists. Students also had access to an Introductory NAO robot coding webinar recording and the complimentary Choregraphe software.
Overall there were 11 finalists, comprising of six secondary schools and three primary schools (one enthusiastic school had three entries):
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Bialik College
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Genazzano FCJ College
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Mac.Robertson Girls’ High School
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Cowes Primary School
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Academy of Mary Immaculate
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Werribee Secondary School
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Kilvington Grammar School
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Hallam Primary School
Each team had two hours to perfect their coding prior to the Dance Off due to the large number of NAO robots available on the day… a real bonus. The event ran smoothly, even when a couple of NAO robots had a bit of stage fright and wouldn’t cooperate!
And the Winners are…
Genazzano FCJ College won the Secondary division with GenTech. They skilfully programmed their NAO robot to dance a tribute to Freddie Mercury. NAO even got into the groove with a few signature Freddie Mercury additions: black moustache, white bonds t-shirt and a black armband!
While the two-time reigning champs Bialik College won the Primary division with Dance Boss, an imaginatively choreographed and superbly programmed dance routine.
The judges, Jordan from The Brainary, and Cameron and Nathan from DLTV, commented that:
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“the standard produced from the primary schools this year was on par with the secondary schools, so well done to those teams.”
The winners were awarded a Micro:bit each. The Micro:bit is a pocket-sized computer that you can code, customise and control to bring your digital ideas, games and apps to life!
MiRo also made a guest appearance and wanted to join in on the coding fun!
The Brainary would like to warmly thank DLTV for all their support and assistance and all the students, teachers and parents involved for making the coding competition such an amazing event!
