Pupils from North Staffordshire are taking their robots to America for

[ad_1]

Teenagers who built their own robot are heading to the US next month to compete against young engineers from across the world.

It comes after Newcastle Academy won the North West round of the FIRST Tech Challenge UK Championships, beating almost 600 other students.

Pupils had to get their robot to navigate a series of tasks on a space-themed playing field, while up against the clock. They also had to document their design journey and present their engineering notebooks to a panel of industry judges.

Now the 13-strong Newbotics 101 team have set their sights on becoming world champions after qualifying for the international contest in Detroit, Michigan.

Newcastle Academy pupil Amber Wyle with the robot

Fourteen-year-old team member Leah Williams, from Knutton, said: “The other countries include China and Japan. The competition is going to be tougher.

“There were only two finals in the UK. The other was held in Cambridge and the winning team from that has also got through.”

The all-expenses paid trip will see them fly out for the global round, which starts on April 24. The students are now busy fundraising so they can make their robot even more sophisticated.

Powered by batteries, it has been built using a variety of components and sensors and is linked up to two mobile phones. For the final in Manchester, some of the tasks had to be completed without using controls.

Newcastle Academy pupil Amber Wyle oversaw the programming of the robot. The 15-year-old, from Penkhull, said: “The hardest bit was getting it to be autonomous.

“I started off programming it to move forwards and backwards. I now want to have a lift on top so we can lift up objects from the ground.

“The robot has got colour sequences as well so it can help find things.”

The team had to overcome some hiccups in front of the judges.

Pupils competing in the FIRST Tech UK Championships

Fifteen-year-old Dan Moss, from Seabridge, said: “There was a problem with the wheels, which meant it couldn’t go up a ramp. We added bigger wheels to the front and it worked.”

It marked the inaugural outing for the FIRST Tech Challenge UK Championships, which was open to 12 to 18-year-olds.

The competition has been supported by JCB and mentors assigned to each school team. The students took on different roles, with jobs including software engineers, designers, project managers and communication officers.

Matthew Wootton-Jones was the ‘ambassador’ helping the robotics brains at the Westlands-based school.

He said: “They’ve done amazingly well. It’s not just been about what they can do with the robot, but their project management skills.

“The robot is still a work in progress and they are fundraising to improve it. But it will be competition-ready in the next few weeks.”

Ed Cervantes-Watson, FIRST UK chief executive, said it wasn’t about finding the next Steve Jobs, but encouraging young people to develop an interest in science, technology, engineering and maths.

Other schools picking up awards at the North West finals included St Edward’s Academy, in Leek, Clayton Hall Academy, Trentham Academy, Newcastle’s St John Fisher Catholic College, Endon High and Birches Head Academy.