Tarawera rangatahi had a taste of robotics and the work being done at Waikato University Robotics, Automation and Sensation group.

There are a lot of interesting developments occuring in the field of robotics at Waikato University. The Engineering department works in collaboration with a range of partners to develop solutions to problems such as robotic vine pruning, apple fruitlet thinning, and blueberry harvesting. The MaraaTech MBIE project, a five-year transdisciplinary project is one such with the goal of ‘researching and developing robots and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies for use in horticulture and viticulture in New Zealand’.

The PTC Trust Robotics workshop, facilitated by Ben and Hayden led the group through a series of problem-solving exercises during which they learned practically the ins and outs of what engineering would be like within University studies.