Otumoetai Intermediate have won the excellence award at the inaugural VEX IQ National Championships thanks to a vision to align itself with seasoned robotics experts from Otumoetai College.

At the Palmerston North Events Centre last weekend, the school's nine participants, competing in teams of three, took on the Highrise challenge with great success.

Otumoetai Intermediate's Carta Greenway, 13, with one of the VEX robots built by his team the OEM Guys. Photos: Chris Callinan.

A first for intermediate school level robotics, the VEX IQ Highrise challenge involves teams having to move blocks of varying colours, from one end of the course to the other before stacking them.

Other disciplines include teams competing via driver control, in alliance with another team to gain as many points as possible, as well as individual driver control or individual autonomous programming.

After 60 qualification rounds and seven finals, team ‘Builders League', consisting of Daniel Lee, Aleks Matic and Ashley Rickit were awarded the supreme award along with gaining and highest points for autonomous programming.

‘Dem Guys', consisting of Jacob Guccione, Gabe Heays and Carta Greenway placed second in Driver control and ‘STT' (Harry Taylor, Kyle Arthur-Worsop and Cole Davy) finished third equal overall.

The three podium finishes then saw the school awarded the Excellence Award, giving the school the right to represent New Zealand at the Vex IQ World Champions in Kentucky, USA next April.

Otumoetai Intermediate teacher Kate Rhodes is extremely proud of the team's showing at the first national event, considering they are in their first full year of robotics.

'They are quite an exceptional bunch really,” says Kate.

'I am very proud. They are just such a real good bunch and they work really hard.

When VEX Released a robot suitable for the intermediate group at the beginning of 2014, Kate jumped at the chance to help align the school with Otumoetai College given its own success at VEX tournaments in recent years.

The school now have ten $450 kit set robots - a cross between lego and meccano - allowing it to interact with the college and pass skills and techniques between the two.

Kate says throughout the years the intermediate has been attending practices, or 'scrimmages”, vital in helping to improve the robot both in structure as well as tactics leading up to the national event.

Looking ahead to the world championships, Kate says there are no definitive plans but she will be speaking with the students and parents at the start of term one regarding interest and funding.