Info - The Drop Bears
About us
We are a team of high school students, sharing our passion for STEM. Split into sub-teams and with support from our industry-skilled mentors, we compete in the worldwide, annual FIRST Robotics Competition.
Our team is based at USYD in Sydney, Australia.
Meeting Schedule
- Build Season (January-February): During School holidays: Daily Thursday to Monday - mid-morning to late afternoon (11am – 5pm) During Term time: Thursday to Monday – (4pm to 8pm)
- Off Season: Selected weekend day and a weekday after school as and if required
- Location: J04 Rose Street Building, Australian Centre of Field Robotics, Faculty of Engineering in The University of Sydney.
Subteams
Mechanical
The Mechanical Team is charged with the nuts and bolts of engineering the robot.
It provides the opportunity for students to:
- Design, and draw plans for engineering
- Test designs both physically and theoretically
- Physically construct the robot
- Provide ongoing maintenance of the robot
Students learn to use programs such as Onshape, a Computer Aided Design (CAD) package and develop skills within engineering mechanics to solve problems and design solutions.
Controls
In charge of controlling the robot and making it intelligent.
It provides the opportunity for students to:
- Vision, using cameras to provide the robot with useful information.
- Autonomous, giving the robot predetermined actions.
- Dashboard, provide the robot drivers with useful information about the robot.
Software students will be taught, over the course of the season:
- Programming in Python.
- Problem solving.
- Collaboration with other team members.
Mentors
Our team is supported by a group of experienced and enthusiastic industry-skilled mentors. Our mentors are the backbone of the team and encapsulate a mix of professional engineers, students who have previously competed in FRC and professionals from multidisciplinary backgrounds working in industry. Led by the head mentor, they assist with identifying tasks and teaching students how to strategise, design, build and code robots.
Head Mentors
Lucien Morey
Head Mentor, 2025 - Present
A student in the team from 2013 - 2015, Lucien returned as a mentor in 2017. He's a software engineer specialising in spacecraft flight programming.
Dr James Ward
Australian Centre for Robotics at the University of Sydney
Head Mentor, 2013 – 2019, 2023 – 2025
James combines his aeronautical engineering degree with a PhD in mechatronics to help students discover their passion for STEM subjects, and apply their passion in a way that goes far beyond what they could do at school.
Ian Thomas
Head Mentor, 2022 – 2023
A founding member of the team as a student, Ian has been an enthusiastic Drop Bear for well over a decade. Now a professional working in robotics he is excited to give back as a mentor to the next generation of students.
Andreas Heintze
Head Mentor, 2019 – 2022
Andreas spent seven years with the team while a senior executive in a prominent consulting engineering company.
What is FRC?
FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is a global high school robotics competition that is held annually. It combines the excitement of sport with the rigors of science and technology. FRC is designed to help students explore science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and to develop real-world skills for the future.
What is Build Season?
Build season starts around early January and finishes around the end of February. During this time, the team meets 5 days each week to design and build the robot for the regional competition, which takes place in Sydney during mid-March.
What is Off Season?
Off-season is the period after the local regional competition before build season. During the off-season, we work on our current robot to improve our skills and knowledge, usually take part in off-season competitions, which are sometimes inter-State, and work on longer-term projects including sponsorship and recruitment. In some years we have travelled to international competitions in Canada or the USA after the regional finals