This quartet of STEM-savvy students from the Rockhampton region was among 160 of Queensland's brightest teenagers who took part in the 2015 QUT Vice-Chancellor's STEM Camp (for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) last week.
The camp attracted students from Brisbane and regional areas, including Timothy Harris (Shalom College), Ethan Bounds (Isis District State High School), Marina Khair (Shalom College) and Caitlyn Hovey (Rosedale State School).
They all chose their own STEM projects to work on during the week, and also got to check out a robotic surgery project where a robotic arm was programmed to manipulate tweezers and play the Operation board game without the 'buzzing' the patient.
The camp ran during the second week of the school holidays and was fully funded by QUT.
The students' research-based project choices included learning about and experimenting with 3D printing of body parts, robotic horticulture, solar panels, and forensic analysis techniques. The full list and descriptions can be found here.
QUT roboticist Professor Jonathan Roberts, who was an advising academic on the Operation project, said the robot arms involved were recently on public display in a "hospitals of the future" exhibit at QUT's Robotronica festival.
"The robotics revolution is going to spawn whole new industries and careers we haven't even dreamed of yet," he said.
"The world will need millions of highly-skilled humans to design, develop, direct and maintain our robotic co-workers."
Professor Roberts is a researcher with the QUT-based Australian Centre for Robotic Vision where he specialises in medical and healthcare robotics. He is currently working on a project that aims to help medical robots "see" during operations.
QUT's STEM teacher-in-residence Anne Brant said 160 high-achieving Year 11 students took part in the Vice-Chancellor's STEM Camp from 108 schools including 66 Brisbane schools, 33 regional schools and 20 schools in the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Caboolture areas.
The Vice-Chancellor's STEM Camp program also included a QUT Real World Futures event where the students and 40 industry executives discussed what the world would be like in 10 years' time. They were also able to show off their research results at a STEM Camp showcase evening with QUT Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Coaldrake on October 1.
Media contact: Mechelle McMahon, QUT media officer, 07 3138 9449 or media@qut.edu.au
