Poneke AI Robot League 2026
The Pōneke AI Robot League is an 8-week after-school robotics and AI programme for students in Years 9+ running in 2026. Each term, schools across Wellington host their own mini-league. It’s bit like after school sports for robots.
Students work in pairs to code, train, and test vehicle robots that can move, see, and respond to their environment. They’ll explore Python coding, AI, and computer vision through hands-on challenges, culminating in friendly interschool “Robot Jam” competitions.
The students require no tech or coding experience.
The league is a collaboration between the School of Engineering and Computer Science at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington and Matamoe.
Programme Overview
- When: After school, once a week, for 8 weeks of the allocated term
- Who: Years 9+ (max 10-15 students)
- Session length: 90 minutes
- Staffing: Two Matamoe tutors per session
- Where: Hosted onsite at your school
What your school provides
- No financial cost to the school to participate
- A staff member onsite to support the Matamoe Tutors.
- A class room, wifi access and access to laptops for your students if they don’t have their own device.
- Transport to interschool events every 2nd week (school van or parent help) . There are 4 inter-school events in the term. One event is hosted at your school.
What students will learn
AI and robotics are changing the world we live in. We want our rangatahi to be a part of that future. We’re teaching the students about how to use robotics in fun, practical scenarios.
We believe that we need to earn the right to teach students code by creating creative and engaging tasks. The best way to learn AI is to see the physical application of AI using Robotics.
Students will learn:
- Robot Movement: How to navigate the robot around obstacles with style! The robots move forwards, back, spin, sideways and drift.
- AI & Coding: Use real world tasks to make learning python and AI come alive.
- Computer Vision: Using the robot cameras and AI to identify colour balls and push them into a goal.
- Animate the robots: Get the robots to move and talk like the movie “Cars”
- Robot Jam Competitions: Every 2 weeks, you will visit another school and test your skills in friendly interschool challenges..
Every week the students will build on knowledge from previous weeks to learn robotics as a pathway into tech careers.
Why schools join
- Aligned with the Digital Technologies Curriculum
- Engages students through fun, project-based learning
- We’re partnered with Victoria University to build pathways into mechatronics and engineering
- Teacher PD support available for robotics and AI
- No specialist teacher required.
- All equipment and tutors provided through the Matamoe AI Robot Library
- Builds staff capability and inspires ākonga to see themselves in future tech roles
What schools are saying about us
“As a Decile 2 school, Taita College students don’t get a lot of opportunities to experience coding or virtual reality. Most would say that a career in coding or tech is too hard or beyond their capabilities.
Matamoe has shown them this is not the case. We’ve had three one hour sessions so far and the students have already learned how to code a robot to complete a maze. Matamoe delivers the learning in a way that is simple and accessible but most of all FUN!
The students have been engaged in the sessions and were easily able to transfer the skills from one session to the next. We feel really lucky to have Matamoe working with us and the students are looking forward to the future sessions.” – Cathy Peek, Assistant Principal Taita College
“Matamoe invited us to become involved in their programmes. Because of them, we were able to provide new technology experiences for our Year 7-10 students. The sessions were highly engaging, and our students loved them!” – Steven Knipping, Deputy Principal Bishop Viard College
Get in touch to Poneke AI Robot League to your school!
Contact our team at [email protected] about bringing the robot league to your school.