Sydney schoolboys have become space station problem solvers and the first Australian students to take over NASA robots.
A crew from Normanhurst Boys High School were the only Australians to advance to the final round of a global computer programming challenge involving writing codes for robots at the International Space Station.
Sydney University academics mentored the students for five months before the boys went head to head against international teams on Australia Day.
Their challenge was to work with astronauts to program Star Wars-inspired SPHERE robots to collect space junk and beam photographs back to Earth.
Normanhurst Boys' head teacher of technological and applied studies, Peter Davis, said the boys had already chalked up impressive resumes before they even finished high school thanks to the Zero Robotics Competition.
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"If you programmed NASA's research robot on the International Space Station in high school, there are no limits to what you can do next," said Mr Davis.
