Robotics Challenge 2108
Following on from last year’s success at the Robotics Challenge, a team of 11 students from Y8 & 9 were tasked with designing and developing a new improved robot to complete a series of challenges founded on aviation and sponsored by the RAF in their centenary year.
Team ‘Daedarus’ headed off on Friday, 23 February to participate in the regional heat at Richard Taunton Sixth Form College. In readiness for the day the team had been meeting regularly every Thursday lunchtime and sometimes after school practising to meet a series of challenges.
They had to design, build and program a robot that would travel over 4m as fast as possible; their robot was awarded 17/20 points as it travelled 4m in 3.15 seconds, a great achievement as they had pulled their robot apart and rebuilt it only minutes before the launch.
They were also required to design, build and program a robot to cover a range of tasks including scaling a ramp, retrieving engine parts, opening gates to retrieve and transfer aircraft to loading area, delivering humanitarian aid parcels to the designated point and finally, collecting a Lego engineer and transporting them to a designated place. These were all to be completed in a 5 minute timeframe. The team attempted each of the challenges and were successful in all but one, which was a fantastic achievement.
The teamwork challenge, which they had to complete in between all of the other challenges was to design the most effective paper aeroplane to cover the furthest distance. Their solution was very successful and launched very professionally by Evie Williams off the stage and it hit the back of the hall.
In preparation for the presentation task the students had chosen to research the topic of 'Drones and how they could be used as an engineering solution to a humanitarian aid problem'. Emily Woodford had even gathered first hand aerial footage with her father's drone flying over the school as part of the presentation! All students spoke confidently and with interest and wowed the judges with their impromptu discussions at the end of the presentation. The team won the best research presentation award, which was a very proud moment.
It was a busy and fun filled day, during which all of the students worked well together and demonstrated resilience, problem solving, teamwork, independent thinking, and effective communication and leadership skills. Well done to all the girls involved; Talia Saltmarsh, Emily Woodford, Evie Williams, Molly Montague, Emily Hamilton, Anneliese Brown, Rachel Berkley, Rhiannon Cogan, Lisea Weissenberger, Yao Yao Wang & Molly Cazaly.
Visit the ROBOTICS CHALLENGE photo gallery for more images of the team in action.
Mrs Jenny Knott & Mrs Sarah Haywood Smith