All competition teams will need to sign up as a group. JRA will not put individuals together to form a team.

This is because of the complexity of both the season, team work and differing personalities.

Teams are required to give 72 hours notice before the first scheduled session to receive a full refund.

Teams who give less than 72 hours notice before the first lesson up until the end of the second lesson may be entitled to a partial refund. This amount will be at the discretion of Bundaberg Junior Robotics Academy and will take the following factors into consideration:

• Number of lessons completed/number of lessons remaining.

• JRA’s ability to replace the team’s place in the program

• Loss of income resulting from cancellation.

Participants who cancel their placement after the second lesson are not entitled to a refund.

The QLD State RoboCup Junior Championship fee will be refunded regardless of cancellation time provided registration has not been submitted and paid for.

JRA do not measure success purely on results. As such we cannot guarantee ‘wining/placing’ in competitions. There are simply far too many factors at play including student designs and coding as well as external factors such as environments and technology.

Projects are meant to be predominantly/all of the participants own work. While JRA will provide extensive support and guidance to prepare participants for the competitions, during the competitions, JRA mentors are not allowed to touch participants’ robots or coding. This is part of the competition rules to ensure participants are the ones responsible for their projects and to ensure as much fairness as possible across all teams.

JRA will make all efforts to ensure all teams are ready in some capacity for each competition.

Participants and parents are reminded however that the State Championship is the end goal of the season. As such, participants will learn from each early Regional competition and implement these improvements regardless of the ‘readiness’ of their robots.

As mentioned earlier, JRA do not measure success purely on results. These experiences are provided for the participants to learn life long skills such as problem solving, adaptability, resilience etc. ‘Failures/problems’ are to be expected and learnt from.

Unfortunately, Yes.

Lego robotics equipment is very expensive and while quite hardy, doesn’t last forever. On top of the base kit, additional expansion sets are needed as well as extra/event specific sensors to be able to compete at a high standard.

On top of the robotics kits, competition equipment such as courses, balls, and fields can also be very expensive. Other costs such as mentor wages, hiring fees, insurance, admin costs, travel and accommodation to and from competitions are also factored in.

State registration fees have also been included ($120) which is charged per team, regardless of number of members.

Finally, due to the nature of the competition season running across two school terms and a holiday period, the kits are unable to be used for workshops/courses during this time.

Generally no. The risk of loss, damage or leaving parts behind when coming to sessions/competitions is too great. Exceptions may be made, though this is in rare circumstances and these decision can only be made by the JRA Head Mentor.

Short answer, likely, though depends on the chosen event, time management and individual preference as to how much.

Long answer, some of the events are more time consuming than others and could require additional planning e.g. On-Stage. This could include filling out a ‘Technical Description Paper’ (which forms part of their score at competitions), finding/creating props and costumes or organising ‘dance moves’. Participants from other events may like to research designs and coding or even look to build/debug their code in their own time. This would help them be prepared for the sessions in order to maximise their time with the robots and available support.

Definitely, however …

Email is the preferred method and will need to be via the parent/guardian’s email.

Response times may vary as mentors have other jobs/commitments. Responses will typically be faster between Thursday - Sunday.

Unfortunately, no.

Session dates are set and locked in based on availability of mentors and venues.

If a session is cancelled by JRA for any reason e.g. extreme weather, sickness, venue not available etc. JRA will make all efforts to find a suitable time/day for participants to catch up on this session. If no catch up can be provided, a refund based on a pro-rata calculation will be provided.

JRA encourage teams to attend as many competitions as possible to get the most out of the program. After all, this is what the sessions are working towards and where teams will get to demonstrate their learning/progress.

However, the 3 competitions are all voluntary for teams as JRA understand that other commitments such as school, sport, family etc. can come up and interrupt this.