As President of Devil Robotics, I am pleased to present our annual report, highlighting the achievements and progress of our organisation over the past year.

Devil Robotics is a volunteer-led organisation dedicated to inspiring students in grades 5 through 12 to become leaders and innovators in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Our mission is to foster skills in resilience, communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and critical thinking through after-school robotics activities.

After-School Robotics Program

Our weekly robotics clubs (juniors and seniors) have continued to introduce students to the fundamentals of designing, building, and programming robots. This hands-on approach has not only enhanced their technical skills but also encouraged creativity and innovation. Due to high demand, our juniors program (grades 5-8) reached full capacity in 2024. We have an established waitlist and are continuing to explore options to expand our capacity to accommodate more interested students. These ideas include:

• Assisting other schools and community groups to establish their own junior robotics team to participate in FIRST LEGO League (FLL) by loaning them LEGO equipment and mentoring their leadership team, thereby allowing students from our waitlist to get involved in their own school based team or local community group robotics team.
• Offering training to any interested schools and community groups in teaching robotics as a STEM activity.

Mentorship

Mentorship remains a cornerstone of our organisation. Our mentors, comprising teachers, parents, industry professionals, university students, and former Devil Robotics participants, have generously contributed their time and expertise. Their guidance has been instrumental in the personal and professional development of our students, providing them with valuable insights into the STEM fields. We would like to thank our mentors for their time and effort.

A special note for Reilly Callaway who has been with Devil Robotics from the start. Your leadership and mentoring has been so valuable to Devil Robotics and we extend our gratefulness to the time you have invested into our senior students. We wish you well and look forward to hearing from you in the future. To our other mentors leaving us this year, we thank you for your time and wish you all the best for the future. Please stay in touch.

Competitions and Events

This year, our teams participated in several competitions and events, including:

• FIRST LEGO League – Juniors
• FIRST Tech Challenge – Seniors
• Festival of Bright Ideas (FOBI)
• Bruny Island Science Fun Day
• Bunnings BBQ Fundraiser
• Hosting the FLL Hobart Regional
• Simon Hogwood Award

These experiences have provided our students with opportunities to apply their skills in real-world scenarios, collaborate with peers, present their robots to the public, and gain recognition for their hard work and creativity.

I would like to congratulate the Junior FLL team ‘The Imps’ for winning the Innovation Project Award’ and finishing as a top team in the FLL Hobart Regional which awarded them a spot in the FLL National Championship South in Sydney. The team competed very well at nationals, and gained a high point score overall, but just missed out on gaining an entry to the international competition. This was an awesome effort from the entire team and their mentors.

I would also like to congratulate our Senior FIRST Tech Challenge team who travelled to the regional FTC competition in Adelaide and received the Jeff Rabone Award for “Simple, Elegant and Reliable Engineering”. The team pulled together and showed amazing collaboration skills and earned a reputation from the other teams for being calm, friendly and hardworking. The SA Roboroos, who hosted the event, are very keen to work closely with our seniors’ team and would like to have our team come back in 2025 to their event.

Our fundraising event for the year was held at Bunnings Glenorchy on 17th March 2024. We successfully raised $1563 for Devil Robotics, and I wish to thank all the families who volunteered their time that day.

Devil Robotics co-hosted the FLL Hobart Regional at Sacred Heart School in New Town on 9th November 2024.  This takes a mammoth effort to organise and I would like to thank Bronwen Baume-Tarrant for taking on this role, she does a wonderful job year after year organising this event on behalf of Devil Robotics.  I also wish to thank all our mentors, families and other volunteers for giving their time so graciously to host this event and make it a fun and memorable event for all the participants.

2024 was the second year that Devil Robotics has been invited to participate in the Bruny Island Science Fun Day. I wish to thank Reilly for taking the lead in organising the Devil Robotics display and thank all the families who volunteered their time to exhibit at the event.

Festival of Bright Ideas, held in August, is always a fun event for Devil Robotics to exhibit to the public what our organisation does. This year, our students and mentors displayed various robots from the FLL and FTC competitions during the Schools day and the Public day. This event is a unique opportunity for students to develop their public speaking skills to talk to groups of students and young people about their robot designs and demonstrate the robot abilities.  I wish to thank all the mentors and families involved, especially Rob and Andrea for taking the lead in organising our participation in this event.

And finally, 2024 saw us give out the first “Simon Hogwood Award” in remembrance of one of our founding members. The award was given to a student that “Embodies The Values Of Devil Robotics” based on a set of three criteria. This award was given to three students, two from juniors and one from seniors. The award recipients were chosen by the mentors of each team and given out in the last session of the year. We were very pleased to welcome Simon’s son, to cheer on the students that received the memorial award.

Grants

We were successful in receiving a generous grant from the Federal Government at the end of 2023 which allowed us to pay for a large percentage of travel costs for the teams and their guardians to travel to the mainland to attend the regional and national competitions. This grant money was allocated towards travel and equipment for the competitions and the funding reports were accepted and reconciled by the government in December 2024.

Devil Robotics will look to apply for further grant funding throughout 2025 to assist with funding our strategic plan and assist in funding future interstate and overseas travel expenses for teams to attend competitions.

Looking Ahead

As we move forward, our leadership team will look to place a 5 and 10 year strategic plan in place in order to more accurately target funding opportunities and secure a more permanent location for a Devil Robotics workshop. We would like to expand our programs to accommodate more students and explore new partnerships to enhance our offerings. We are committed to continuous improvement and innovation to keep pace with advancements in technology and education.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation to our dedicated mentors, enthusiastic students, and supportive parents. Together, we have built a community that not only builds robots but also shapes future leaders and innovators.

Thank you for your support and commitment to Devil Robotics.

Sincerely,
Bianca Shannon
President, Devil Robotics