Overview
The Robotanists are a FLL Challenge team in the Sydney region. Some members did Explore and previous Challenge seasons, others have no experience. Members of the team have participated in any of the below seasons:


Replay
Replay, the 2020-2021 season, was the first competing experience of any team members in Challenge. The members were Andrew, Iain and a previous member. They were in years 3-4.


Their Innovation Project was based on improving local parks, improving accessibility, fun and protection at them.

Superpowered
The name Robotanists was first used in Superpowered, and at the time there were 8 members, Andrew, Caleb, Iain and 5 previous members, in years 5-7.
Our Innovation Project was about Geothermal Energy, and how it is an alternative to fossil fuels. We had severe gyro drift issues this season.

Masterpiece
The Robotanists received the Motivate Award in Masterpiece, the 2023-2024 season.
There were 7 members, Andrew, Caleb, Iain, Tim and 3 previous members, in years 6-8.

This season, we had a sword-fighting robot to share our hobby of fencing/sword-fighting, which we were quite pleased with, and good robot design for us to learn from. We also enjoyed ourselves this season, particularly with our sword fighting.

Submerged
Submerged, running from 2024-2025, was the best yet for us. We received the Core Values award at the Ourimbah Regionals, and progressed to Nationals, where we received no awards, but learnt a lot. We had several Exceeds on our marking rubrics this season, something which we were very proud of.
There were 7 members, Aaryan, Andrew, Caleb, Iain, Meek, Muse and Tim, in years 6-8.

This season, we had a good Innovation Project, with a network of Hydroponics stations to restock research vessels to extend research expeditions, a redesigned robot and code, allowing us to learn a lot and improve a lot, and good core values, allowing some of our favourite memories to be ones of teamwork, inclusion and fun, extending to tournaments and helping other teams. We also volunteered at an FTC tournament.

Unearthed
Unearthed, the 2025-2026 season.
There were 9 members, Aaryan, Andrew, Arnav, Caleb, Eshan, Iain, Meek, Muse and Tim, in years 7-9. All of whom had returned from the Submerged season, and 2 new people.

We swapped to Spike Prime this season, and had to design a new robot.

After our Submerged season ended and during Unearthed, we volunteered for several tournaments, including:

We had a near-continuous stream of emails between each other in the Submerged off-season, sharing ideas and planning

We received the Robot Performance Award, with 380 points at the Wollongong Regional, however didn't progress to Nationals due to a poor Innovation Project, primarily suffering from being unoriginal in comparison to other ideas.


Previous members
If members, coaches or mentors have left, no longer offer their services or prefer to remain private, their names are hidden everywhere in this site.
Our team currently has:  9 members, named Aaryan, Andrew, Arnav, Caleb, Eshan, Iain, Meek, Muse and Tim.
Our team has had: 7 other members
Our coaches at various times: Ben Stanley, Craig Campbell and 2 parents
Our mentors at various times: 3 members of Team Robotic Innovators

Everyone helped to make memories and experiences, regardless of how long they were on the team for.

We were fortunate to be run at the same location as Team Robotic Innovators, a team who competed from 2016-2022, in seasons from Animal Allies to Superpowered, except for 2021, Cargo Connect, due to COVID, before retiring to focus on HSCs. They made it to Internationals once, and Nationals several times. They guided us and gave us ideas as to how we could achieve our goals, through subtle yet meaningful advice, pointing us in the right direction without explicitly saying it.