Student Achievements & Competitions

Build. Compete. Achieve.

Celebrating our students’ achievements and creating opportunities for young people to challenge themselves, collaborate and grow.

Explore Our Achievements Discover Competition Opportunities

Founder-led experience

Built on Competition Experience. Expanding Possibilities.

Our founders bring extensive experience in creating, organising and hosting robotics competitions and student learning experiences, including initiatives that connect young people across schools, communities and international competition networks.

That experience has shaped our belief that competitions are about more than results. They give students opportunities to solve problems, collaborate, persevere, communicate and discover what they can achieve.

Innovate Forge Academy is building on this heritage to explore new possibilities across technology, innovation, public speaking, leadership, entrepreneurship and interdisciplinary student challenges.

The next chapter is about creating more ways for young people to participate, contribute and grow.

Educational heritage

A record built by students.

These achievements belong to students of Innovate Technology & Robotics Academy. They document years of competition preparation, teamwork and participation at local, national and international levels—and form part of the educational heritage on which Innovate Forge Academy is building.

Total awards

20+

Tournaments participated

Awards reported in 2024

3rd

VEX IQ Teamwork Challenge

Legacy academy robotics team presenting at a competition event

Legacy academy photograph · reuse and participant consent approval pending

Featured achievement

A World Championship milestone.

The legacy academy records Team 10629E achieving third place in the VEX IQ Middle School Teamwork Challenge in Louisville, Kentucky. It separately records a Robot Skills ranking of 24th among 200 teams.

The result reflects a sustained student journey through engineering, preparation, teamwork and perseverance. It is not presented as an overall third-place ranking across every World Championship category.

Team

10629E

Event year

2016

Competition history

A year-by-year record.

Each entry retains the teams, games, locations and award categories recorded by the legacy academy. Items with source ambiguities are explicitly marked for review.

2024

VEX IQ Australian National Championships

Rapid Relay

Teams 68885A and 68885B

Qualified for the Australian National Championships.

Sydney

Excellence ×3Teamwork ×3Design ×3Robot Skills ×3Judges ×1Innovate ×1

The six listed award categories total 14, while the source headline reports 13 awards in 2024.

2023

VEX IQ Australian National Championships

Full Volume

Teams 68885A and 68885B

Qualified for the Australian National Championships.

Adelaide

Excellence ×1Teamwork ×1Design ×4Judges ×3

2022

VEX IQ Australian National Championships

Slapshot

Team 68885A

Qualified for the Australian National Championships.

Sydney

Judges ×1

2019

VEX IQ Australian National Championships

Squared Away

Team 68885A

Qualified for the Australian National Championships.

Adelaide

Excellence ×2Teamwork ×4Design ×3Robot Skills ×1Judges ×1

VEX Australian National Championships

Tower Takeover

Team 89999A

Qualified for the Australian National Championships.

Adelaide

Judges ×1

2018

VEX IQ Australian National Championships

Next Level

Team 68885A

Qualified for the Australian National Championships.

Melbourne

Excellence ×1Teamwork ×1Design ×2Judges ×1

This source entry also mentions Team 10629 qualifying in Melbourne in 2015. That historical reference remains under review rather than being merged into this season.

VEX Australian National Championships

Turning Point

Team 89999A

Qualified for the Australian National Championships.

Melbourne

Excellence ×1Design ×1Judges ×2

2017

VEX Australian National Championships

In The Zone

Team 89999A

Qualified for the Australian National Championships.

Wangaratta

Tournament ×3Robot Skills ×1Amaze ×1Judges ×1

2016

VEX Australian National Championships

Starstruck

Team 89999A

Qualified for the Australian National Championships.

Wangaratta

Tournament ×3Robot Skills ×3CAD Award ×2Judges ×1

2015

VEX IQ World Championships

Bankshot

Team 10629E

Third place in the Middle School Teamwork Challenge; Robot Skills ranked 24th among 200 teams.

Louisville, Kentucky

3rd Teamwork Champion ×1

The detailed source files this result under 2015; its headline statistic calls it a 2016 result. Confirm the event year before unrestricted publication.

VEX IQ Australian National Championships

Bankshot

Team 10629

Qualified for the Australian National Championships.

Melbourne

Excellence ×1Robot Skills ×1Inspire ×1

The source uses Team 10629 here and Team 10629E for the World Championship result; confirm the identifier relationship.

Asia Pacific Robotics Championships

Participated in the Asia Pacific Robotics Championships.

Melbourne Showgrounds

Invent ×1

2014

FIRST LEGO League and VEX IQ World Championships

FIRST LEGO League participation in Melbourne; VEX IQ World Championships ranking of 24th among 200 middle-school teams.

Melbourne and Anaheim, California

Core Values Award ×1

Confirm whether this 24th-of-200 result is distinct from the similarly worded 2015 Robot Skills record.

2024

VEX IQ Australian National Championships

Rapid Relay

Teams 68885A and 68885B

Qualified for the Australian National Championships.

Sydney

Excellence ×3Teamwork ×3Design ×3Robot Skills ×3Judges ×1Innovate ×1

The six listed award categories total 14, while the source headline reports 13 awards in 2024.

2023

VEX IQ Australian National Championships

Full Volume

Teams 68885A and 68885B

Qualified for the Australian National Championships.

Adelaide

Excellence ×1Teamwork ×1Design ×4Judges ×3

2022

VEX IQ Australian National Championships

Slapshot

Team 68885A

Qualified for the Australian National Championships.

Sydney

Judges ×1

2019

VEX IQ Australian National Championships

Squared Away

Team 68885A

Qualified for the Australian National Championships.

Adelaide

Excellence ×2Teamwork ×4Design ×3Robot Skills ×1Judges ×1

VEX Australian National Championships

Tower Takeover

Team 89999A

Qualified for the Australian National Championships.

Adelaide

Judges ×1

2018

VEX IQ Australian National Championships

Next Level

Team 68885A

Qualified for the Australian National Championships.

Melbourne

Excellence ×1Teamwork ×1Design ×2Judges ×1

This source entry also mentions Team 10629 qualifying in Melbourne in 2015. That historical reference remains under review rather than being merged into this season.

VEX Australian National Championships

Turning Point

Team 89999A

Qualified for the Australian National Championships.

Melbourne

Excellence ×1Design ×1Judges ×2

2017

VEX Australian National Championships

In The Zone

Team 89999A

Qualified for the Australian National Championships.

Wangaratta

Tournament ×3Robot Skills ×1Amaze ×1Judges ×1

2016

VEX Australian National Championships

Starstruck

Team 89999A

Qualified for the Australian National Championships.

Wangaratta

Tournament ×3Robot Skills ×3CAD Award ×2Judges ×1

2015

VEX IQ World Championships

Bankshot

Team 10629E

Third place in the Middle School Teamwork Challenge; Robot Skills ranked 24th among 200 teams.

Louisville, Kentucky

3rd Teamwork Champion ×1

The detailed source files this result under 2015; its headline statistic calls it a 2016 result. Confirm the event year before unrestricted publication.

VEX IQ Australian National Championships

Bankshot

Team 10629

Qualified for the Australian National Championships.

Melbourne

Excellence ×1Robot Skills ×1Inspire ×1

The source uses Team 10629 here and Team 10629E for the World Championship result; confirm the identifier relationship.

Asia Pacific Robotics Championships

Participated in the Asia Pacific Robotics Championships.

Melbourne Showgrounds

Invent ×1

2014

FIRST LEGO League and VEX IQ World Championships

FIRST LEGO League participation in Melbourne; VEX IQ World Championships ranking of 24th among 200 middle-school teams.

Melbourne and Anaheim, California

Core Values Award ×1

Confirm whether this 24th-of-200 result is distinct from the similarly worded 2015 Robot Skills record.

Our competition philosophy

Beyond the competition.

Documented achievements matter, but the learning journey also asks students to take responsibility, communicate their thinking and improve through experience.

Engineering and problem-solving

Students analyse a challenge, make decisions, build, test and improve.

Teamwork and collaboration

Student-led teams learn to listen, share responsibility and support one another.

Leadership and responsibility

Each learner contributes to the team and takes ownership of their role.

Communication and presentation

Engineering diaries, judging conversations and presentations make thinking visible.

Resilience and reflection

Unexpected results become opportunities to review, adapt and try again.

Project planning and documentation

Teams organise work, manage resources and document an evolving solution.

Competition coaching

Guided by experienced educators.

The legacy academy’s published material documents Sue John and Gary Gopinathan mentoring student teams across robotics learning, competition preparation and presentation.

Sue John

Sue’s published profile records more than a decade working with robotics teams, including coaching and mentoring across FIRST LEGO League (FLL), VEX IQ and VEX Robotics Competition (VRC) pathways.

Gary Gopinathan

Gary brings 25 years of teaching, training and capability building. He was part of the founding team that established FLL in Sydney in 2008 and founded and scaled the VEX Robotics Competition (VRC) program across Australia in 2014.

Meet Our Founders

Expanding Forge competitions

More ways to challenge yourself.

Building on our established robotics competition heritage, Innovate Forge Academy is expanding opportunities for students to challenge themselves, create, compete and showcase what they can do.

Future Forge competitions will extend across technology, coding, public speaking, creative writing, innovation and entrepreneurship—giving students different ways to apply their learning, develop confidence and share their ideas.

Apply what they have learned

Solve meaningful challenges

Create original work

Present and explain their thinking

Collaborate where appropriate

Receive recognition for participation and achievement

Connect learning with real-world application

Forge Challenges will create new ways for students to apply their learning through competitions, showcases and innovation challenges across different programme pathways.