Children’s robots do battle at school tech event

SCHOOLCHILDREN were invited to design and build their own robots before sending them to do battle at a workshop last Tuesday.
W13033H14 Worthing High School pupils Joe Birch, 14, and Max Bevis, 14 at Ricardo UK Ltd in ShorehamW13033H14 Worthing High School pupils Joe Birch, 14, and Max Bevis, 14 at Ricardo UK Ltd in Shoreham
W13033H14 Worthing High School pupils Joe Birch, 14, and Max Bevis, 14 at Ricardo UK Ltd in Shoreham

Year eight and nine pupils from Worthing High School visited Ricardo’s – a global multi-industry engineering provider of technology, product innovation and strategic consulting – in Shoreham, for a day of ‘robot wars’.

The event was part of a science technology maths and engineering (STEMNET) promotion to encourage young people to consider careers in each of these areas.

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Year eight student Matthew Clegg said: “I really enjoyed manoeuvring the robotic crane, although I nearly dismantling Ricardo’s safety screens in the process.”

Amy Blower, also in year eight, added: “I really enjoyed the day, I loved learning about how science can be used to make and control robots.”

The students could only use only the materials they were provided with on their desk. These included cocktail sticks, plastic cups, cardboard, sticky tape, paper, pencils, some tin lid wheels, a remote controller and a servo connected to two wheels.

Helen Davis, the school’s leader of science, said some of the designs, which included a mouse, a block of cheese, a kitten and a giraffe, were ‘incredible’.

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Once the children had completed their designs the floor was cleared for them to compete in robot football followed by sumo robot – the robots fought on top of a table-top which decreased in size.

Miss Davis said the students competed in an ‘honest and exemplary team manner at all times’.

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