Weymouth Robotics Challenge creates team players

Weymouth College hosted the Inter-School Robotics Challenge on the 12th & 13th of July for boys and girls in Years 8 & 9. Students had the opportunity to represent their schools, Royal Manor Arts College and Budmouth Technology College, in the competition funded by the AimHigher programme. This was the 34th event so far this year and it continues to be extremely popular and successful.

During the day, the students were divided into small groups and introduced to the challenges. They then commenced designing, building and programming a robot which had to achieve a number of set tasks which reflect real life – in this case the mat that they used was typical of a transport system.

Brian Duke from AimHigher explained why the day was so important: “The purpose of the day is to introduce the students to engineering technology, something they wouldn’t normally consider, and begin to teach them the basics.”

Both days ended successfully with the Principal of Weymouth College and Chair of AimHigher, Sue Moore, presenting the winning team with certificates and a trophy to take back to their schools as record of their achievement.

The winning team for the boys challenge was Connor Wells, Christian Burges and Eli Cranny and the girls challenge winners were Becca Elliot and Charlie Wilson, both from Royal Manor Arts College.

Winners Becca and Charlie said: “The day has been really enjoyable, it’s been stressful at times but really rewarding. It’s improved our teamwork and made us better friends!”