YOUNGSTERS from an Evesham school have been rewarded with a prestigious accolade at an international robotics competition.
Charlie Cox, Lewis Day, Peter Lamb, Chris Morris and Jack Orcherton of the De Montfort School’s ‘Team Tolerance 5638A’, scooped the elusive ‘Excellence and Design Award’ at the VEX Robotics Competition in Stowe.
Although finishing third in the competition having competed against schools across the UK and China, the team caught the eye of the judges for their excellent design and engineering log book and will now go on to take part in the VEX Robotics World Championships in America.
The action-packed day required students to build a robot that could play the game ‘Starstruck’, where they had to score coloured stars and cubes in zones and hang the robot on a hanging bar.
The team now needs to raise funds to cover the cost of the travel, accommodation, competition entry fees and the transportation expenses of their robot.
They hope to do this by securing the support of the local community through several fund-raising events at the Four Pools Road school.
Aaron Williams, teacher and robotics team leader at the school, said: “The VEX Robotics Competition is the world’s fastest growing competitive robotics programme for middle schools, high schools and colleges around the world, with more than 16,000 teams from 40 countries taking part.
“To prepare for the competition, our team worked together to design and build a robot that could quickly and efficiently solve specific obstacles and challenges that come with playing Starstruck.”
The VEX Robotics World Championships take place on Friday, March 17 at the Kentucky Exposition Center, Louisville, USA.
Visit www.vexrobotics.com/vexedr/competition for more information.
