Students triumph at robotics Challenge Finals
Robotics was the focus of a Science and Technology Challenge regional final designed to boost interest in studying STEM subjects, which was held at the University of Huddersfield.
The event involved 22 students from 11 different schools, who were part of the overall winning teams from a number of earlier Challenge Days held over the summer last year.
The Northeast Challenge Finals have been hosted by the University since 2023 and involve Dr Karl Walton, Acting Head of Department for Engineering.
This year, the students were also able to experience a demonstration of two of the University’s robots first-hand and were given a glimpse into how the dog and humanoid robots are involved in various research projects, such as assisted living, as well as teaching and the University’s new Institute of Applied Artificial Intelligence.
Dr Walton commented: “The students and I had a great time. They worked well together in teams across different schools, implementing a graphical scripting language to solve a maze challenge with a robot. I very much enjoyed being part of the University robot demonstration: Harold the humanoid and Skye the dog showed off their dancing and acrobatics skills, and we all had selfies with them at the end.
“The theme of the day draws together the increasingly important skill of computer coding or scripting with robotics. Together, these skills will ultimately help solve some of the ‘Grand Challenges’ that face us, including supporting our ageing population to have a long and healthy life in their own homes.
“Young STEM learners who are developing these skills today will be the graduate Engineers, Mathematicians and Computer Scientists of tomorrow, and some of them may even be graduates of Huddersfield.”
The Science and Technology Challenge Days are run by MCS Projects across the UK for high-achieving Year 8 and 9 students to encourage take-up of STEM subjects. Those involved undertake practical activities led by a team of students recruited from local universities, and are also able to find out more about studying Science and Technology subjects at Higher Education level.
For the Finals held recently at the University of Huddersfield’s Queensgate Campus, the young people were asked to programme Lego Mindstorm Robots to navigate around a 3D maze using colour and infrared sensors, with prizes awarded to first, second and third-placed teams.
The schools involved in the Huddersfield-based Finals were:
- East Yorks & North Lincs and Leeds & Bradford (2024 winners) – Withernsea High School and Cockburn School
- East Yorks & North Lincs – Kingswood Academy and Ryedale School
- Leicestershire – Newbridge School and Priory Belvoir Academy
- Sheffield and Rotherham – Hall Cross Academy
- Huddersfield and Teesside – Brooksbank School and Conyers School
- Tyne and Wear – Seaham High School and North Durham Academy
The winning team was from the East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire Challenge Day, with students from Kingswood Academy and Ryedale School working together, and Dr Walton presented prizes to the students.
Last summer, MCS Projects held a total of 28 Science and Technology Challenge Days, which involved around 182 schools and 2,184 students. In the Northeast, there were seven events, involving 38 schools and around 456 young people.
John Waterworth, Project Manager for Science and Technology Challenge Days at MCS Projects, commented: “I was really impressed by all of the young people’s excellent teamwork and the commitment that they showed throughout the day. These skills will be a great asset to them going forward in their education and into a career.”
The University of Huddersfield’s School of Computing and Engineering includes two Departments covering Computing, Cyber Security and Intelligent systems, Information Systems, Games Development, as well as Civil Engineering, Electronic and Electrical Engineering, and Mechanical and Automotive Engineering.
