Interested in working together? Just fill out the form below. Don't like the form? That's ok, just email us. Thank you.
Interested in working together? Just fill out the form below. Don't like the form? That's ok, just email us. Thank you.
Interested in working together? Just fill out the form below. Don't like the form? That's ok, just email us. Thank you.
MY EXPERIENCE IN
THE U.S. AND AUSTRALIA
SAM QIAN
Robotics Team 9599 at the 2024 Southern Cross Regional FIRST Robotics Competition
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The event is part of FIRST’s global network of high school robotics competitions. Each year teams build a robot under a game-theme, test it, compete in qualification matches, make alliances. For Australia, the Southern Cross Regional is the key high-profile event where Australian (and occasionally international) high school teams can test their designs, strategies, and teamwork in a serious, competitive but supportive environment.
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The “site information” PDF from 2024 notes the venue: “16 Stewart St, South Windsor, NSW, Australia” and identifies the dates, rules, and general logistics.
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So when I say I competed in the 2024 Southern Cross Regional, I’m talking about a multi-day event where my team and many others came with their robots, build workshops, pit crews, driver practice, and real matches. It’s a big deal, and finishing well requires engineering, strategy, teamwork, and resilience.
Entering an FRC regional is made of more than just “build robot for a weekend”. Over the years I saw how the Southern Cross event — and competitions like it — deliver true, long-term benefits. Here’s how:
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Technical expertise and hands-on engineering
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At the competition you don’t just learn theory — you apply it. For instance, you might design a gearbox for torque, choose wheels for traction, program controllers to respond to sensors, debug wiring in the pit, test under real match stress. That kind of hands-on engineering prepares you for university engineering courses, internships, or maker projects later. It builds confidence: you see what fails, fix it, iterate, and then see something you built perform.
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Project management & systems thinking
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A robot is a system: mechanics, electronics, software, strategy. Competing means you must think how these subsystems interact. Also you manage timelines (build season), parts inventory, team roles, testing backlog, logistics (transport robot, pack spares, etc). That teaches you project-management skills. Years later these help in coursework, research, or even start-ups.
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Teamwork, leadership & collaboration
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You can’t do FRC alone. You work with peers, mentors, sometimes across schools or regions. If you founded a team, you recruit, you train, you lead. That develops soft skills: how to communicate technical ideas, how to delegate, how to mentor younger members, how to stay calm under pressure. These are exactly the skills colleges and employers value.
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Resilience & failure-tolerance
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In matches things break: motor fails, wiring vibrates loose, sensor misreads. What matters is not the failure but how you recover. Participating in a competition where you experience failure and bounce back gives mental toughness. Long term, that attitude helps when courses get tough, or when real-world projects hit roadblocks.
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Community & networking
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At regionals you meet teams, mentors, sponsors, industry partners. You build a network of people who know what robotics competition is. That can become future collaborators, internship referrals, even lifelong friends. Also the recognition from participating in such events enhances your portfolio.
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A mindset of innovation & ownership
When you build your own robot and drive it in
competition, you own that project. That sense of ownership and innovation carries into future endeavours: research projects, engineering assignments, societal problems. You realize you don’t need just to follow instructions — you can design, build, and improve.
So participating in the 2024 Southern Cross Regional offers far more than a trophy. It offers launch-pad skills, experiences, and mindsets for the future.
What I did — founding Team 9599, leading design, building, and achieving 3rd place
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Now I’ll turn to my personal journey. I founded “Robotics Team 9599”, recruited our initial members, designed the robot, built it, operated it — and led us to a third-place finish in the alliance round at the Southern Cross Regional. Here’s the detailed story.
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Founding the team and setting our mission
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In late 2023 I reached out to fellow students and interested peers — we started with 7 members. I intentionally made the early team small so we could be agile, but committed. We met weekly to brainstorm: Who are we? What do we want? How do we measure success? We decided: “We want to build a robot that performs reliably, and we want everyone on the team to learn something.” We didn’t just want to win — we wanted to build culture.
I also recruited a faculty mentor and identified a workspace at our school. We secured some sponsorship (even modest) to cover parts, tools, and competition travel. That logistics preparation was key. Without funding and workspace you’re under constant stress.
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Designing the robot — concept to CAD to build
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Once the 2024 game (“Crescendo” season) was announced (see FRC game details) Wikipedia+1 we studied the field, the tasks, the scoring. We asked: what strategy gives us the best return for time? We opted for a hybrid approach: fast drivetrain, moderate manipulator, and flexible sensor suite.
I sketched three conceptual layouts:
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Drive-first: high speed, minimal manipulator.
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Balanced: moderate speed, robust manipulator arm.
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Safety-first: slower drivetrain but heavy emphasis on reliability and defense.
We chose Balanced. I modeled the chassis, manipulator arm, and sensor mountings in CAD. I drew wiring harness diagrams, planned battery compartments, and designed quick-remove modules. I wanted the robot to be serviceable during the competition — that paid off later.
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Building, testing, iterating
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Over the build season we progressed through phases:
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Week 1-2: Basic drivetrain prototype: wheels, motors, basic control.
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Week 3-4: Integrate manipulator — actuated arm, gripper, sensors.
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Week 5: Sensor integration: encoders, limit switches, vision camera, IMU.
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Week 6: Full integration, and initial test matches on mock field.
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Week 7-8: Stress testing, endurance cycles, software refinement.
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Final week: Packing, checklists, driver practice, pit crew rehearsal.
I led the build sessions: once I explained the CAD design, we cut parts, assembled assemblies, and moved to wiring. I also trained team members on soldering, routing wires, crimping connectors, and mounting sensors.
We practiced driver sessions nightly. We recorded lap times, manipulated objectives, and calibrated the manipulator. We also created a “repairable” mindset: we built two backups for common failure parts (motors, belts, controllers) and trained a “pit repair team” to fix under pressure.
How aspirant participants can prepare for the competition:
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If you’re reading this because you’re thinking: “I want to start a robotics team and compete in FRC (Southern Cross or anywhere)”, here’s a practical guide based on what worked for us — with a friendly tone.
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Step 1: Get your feet under you early
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Start recruiting at least 6-12 dedicated students before build season.
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Secure a workspace: table, tools, power, storage — even a classroom works.
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Find a faculty mentor and ideally an industry mentor (local engineer, maker, or university alum).
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Read up about the FRC theme (everyyear it changes) and check what parts kit provide and what you’ll need to augment.
Step 2: Form culture and process
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At your first meeting, set team values. For example: “Document everything”, “Fix parts over replace if possible”, “Teach someone else every week”.
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Decide roles (design lead, build lead, programming lead, driver lead, pit crew lead) but rotate so many learn multiple roles.
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Adopt a workflow: concept → hardware prototype → software integration → full system test → iteration. Log each change in a notebook (digital or physical).
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Build a parts inventory early. Spare motors, belts, zip ties, tape, multimeter, tape measure. Plan for failure.
Step 3: Design — pragmatic but ambitious
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Study the game rules carefully. Choose a strategy that your team can reliably achieve rather than “wild idea” you can’t finish.
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Make your design modular: if a manipulator breaks or a sensor fails, you can swap-out quickly.
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Invest early in fabrication: wheels, chassis, key brackets. Then polish. Don’t wait until final week to start fabrication.
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Programming must integrate with hardware early: code loops must run on your mechanism, not just in simulation.
Step 4: Testing & iteration
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Never wait until the last minute to test. Start tests as soon as basics are built. Identify issues: drivetrain wobble, wiring looseness, overheating motors. Fix when you have time.
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Simulate competition conditions: rough surfaces, gym lighting, loud noise, crowds. See how your sensors respond.
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Hold driver practice every week: track laps, score times, reproduce actions under time pressure.
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Review after each test: what failed? Why? How fix? Log it. Then next week check if fix worked.
Step 5: Pit & event readiness
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Build a repair kit: spare motors, controller boards, belts, zip ties, fuses, heat-shrink tubing, solder iron.
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Create a checklist for every pre-match: battery voltage, wiring tightness, fasteners torqued, sensors zeroed.
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Train a pit team whose job during match day is repair and logistics while drivers focus. Practice swap drills: e.g., change motor in 3 minutes, re-calibrate sensor in 2 minutes.
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On event day, stay calm. Use the log notebook to pick best fix. Take the shortest reliable path rather than improvising ad-hoc.
Step 6: Outreach & storytelling
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Make a team website or blog. Document your journey: sketches, CAD screenshots, fabrication photos, driver practice videos. Judges and sponsors love the story.
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Visit local schools, demo your robot. If you promote STEM and community, you build goodwill and potential sponsors.
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Prepare for interviews: judges will ask how you overcame problems, how your design changed, how you tested, who did what.
Step 7: After the event — reflect and build forward
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Conduct a post-mortem session: what worked well? What failed? What will you do differently next season?
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Archive your logs, CAD, build notes, wiring diagrams so next year you start stronger.
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Mentor novice students or schools. Help someone start their team. Teaching others reinforces your own learning.
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​Founding Robotics Team 9599 and competing at the 2024 Southern Cross Regional wasn’t just about getting a third-place finish. It transformed how I see engineering, teamwork, leadership, and learning.
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When I look back, I don’t remember just the robot in the match. I remember the nights in the workshop, the smell of solder and metal, the frustration when code didn’t run, the thrill of seeing our robot move, and the smiles on my teammates’ faces when we fixed the problem together.
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I learned that the robot is less important than the team around it. That building a process and culture matters more than the prettiest CAD model or fastest mechanism. That failure is not the end—it’s the beginning of what you fix next.
If you’re looking to launch your own team, compete in FRC, or just build something big with friends, I say: go for it. The hours of build, test, fix, and repeat become something bigger—they become a story of growth, friendship, resilience, and possibility.
Thanks for reading my story of Team 9599 and the Southern Cross Regional. If you like, I can help you format this into website sections with image placeholders like “[Insert pit-crew photo here]” or “[Insert late-night build session photo]” so it fits your webpage layout perfectly.
Contact Me
Interested in working together? Just fill out the form below. Don't like the form? That's ok, just email us. Thank you.