Schools from Ireland and London were the inaugural champions of the VEX IQ Challenge UK National Championship, held recently at the Big Bang Fair.
VEX IQ is a tool-less robotics platform specifically created for the 8-14 age range, and gives younger students the chance to get their first experience of designing, programming and operating a robot. The VEX IQ Challenge is called 'Highrise', and involves teams working together to move cubes into scoring zones and using the cubes to build towers.
18 teams from 13 schools took part in the competition at the NEC Birmingham. The teams competed in three categories - Programming
Skills, Robot Skills and the Teamwork Challenge. Over the previous few months, students had designed and built
their robots to comply with a set of rules, using only parts from their VEX IQ
kits.
Programming Skills requires students to use code to make their robot complete the
'Highrise' task completely autonomously, using sensors to navigate around
the field and manipulate the objects.
Scoil Eoin Sharks, a team that had made the longest journey to the competition, from Scoil Eoin primary school in Cork, took the
win with 17 points whilst 10478; Greig City Academy from London, were snapping at their
heels with 15 points. In
Robot
Skills, the students use a remote control to drive their
robot. A large amount of skill and concentration is required to score big
points! Once again it was Scoil Eoin who led the way with 58 points. Second place was taken by 10338B from Frien Barnet School with 37 points.
In the afternoon the teams moved on to the
Teamwork Challenge, where
two robots have to work together to score as many points as possible in one
minute. At the halfway point in each match, the teams have to swap to another
driver from their team so two students control each robot over the course of a
match. The winning alliance was composed of the teams from Scoil Eoin Sharks and Grieg City
Academy, who scored 71 points. In the last match of the day, they pipped the alliance of 10562, UCS and 10789B from City of London
School for Girls who posted a score of 56.
- Excellence Award - 10478, Greig City Academy
- Teamwork Champion Award - Scoil Eoin Sharks, Scoil Eoin; 10478, Greig City Academy
- Teamwork Finalist Award - 10562, UCS; CLSG Robotics Team 2, City of London School for Girls
- Programming Skills Champion Award - Scoil Eoin Sharks, Scoil Eoin
- Programming Skills Second Place Award - 10478, Greig City Academy
- Robot Skills Champion Award - Scoil Eoin Sharks, Scoil Eoin
- Robot Skills Second Place Award - Friern Barnet Robotics 2, Friern Barnet School
- Design Award - Scoil Eoin Sharks, Scoil Eoin
- Amaze Award - Highbury Robotics, Highbury Fields School
- Energy Award - South Hampstead Robotics, South Hampstead High School
- Judges Award - CLSG Robotics Team 2, City of London School for Girls
It was quite a few days for the boys from Scoil Eoin. They had flown in from Cork Airport the day before the competition, dominated the final and took home a clutch of awards. On their return to Cork they were lucky enough to meet Irish football legend Roy Keane, then a few days later paraded through the town of Ballincollig as part of the St Patrick's Day celebrations. Scoil Eoin Principal Gobnait Ui Nuanáin, said: "It is a phenomenal achievement for our wonderful school. We are incredibly proud of the boys."
Rapid would like to offer its congratulations to all the winners and all the teams who took part in the competition, not only at the UK Final but during the regional heats. The 2015-16 season gets underway in the autumn and the new Challenge and rules will be available in May. To find out how to get involved, contact
chris.calver@rapidonline.com.
www.rapidonline.com/vexiq