Sheffield school pupils impress judges at national robot contest

A joint robotics from Dore Primary and King Ecgbert competed against 51 other regional champion from around the UK in the final of the First Lego League Robotics competition.

The Dore Diodes team, made up of 11 and 12-year-olds, had to programme a Lego robot to compete in a selection of missions and also promote an innovative solution to a panel of judges in a Dragons' Den style presentation around hydrodynamics.

The youngsters impressed judges so much that they were give the Insight into Learning award for demonstrating scientific knowledge beyond their age range.

Team coach Alex Percy said the team had dedicated more than 50 hours to their entry and pupils who have moved up to King Ecgbert's School are still a big part of the team.

He said: "All the team have previously competed whilst at Dore Primary but the pupils that left were so dedicated to continue that they came back twice a week after school to enter a joint team.

"As well as the many many lunchtimes and after school sessions that the team spent on the project, the budding engineers visited Sheffield Hallam University where they gave a presentation to the undergraduates on their robot design and programming techniques and had a tour of the robotics laboratory."

The team are now already working to improve their robot design for next year's competition on an space theme called Into Orbit.

Mr Percy is encouraging other schools interested in taking part in the competition to visit https://firstlegoleague.theiet.org or contact him at Dore Primary.