On the 23rd and 24th April Eltham College’s Student Robotics team took part in the annual competition finally back in physical competition for the first time since 2019.
The team of Ben, Gugu, Sebastian, Tyler and Riccardo battled through two days of competition at Southampton University Highfield Campus on the final weekend of the Easter Holidays.
The competition is one of the most difficult of its kind, attracting Sixth Form Engineers and Computer Scientists from all over the UK. It involves planning and constructing a robot with only the processing equipment provided to operate with complete autonomy to gain points by completing tasks in an arena. This year the challenge was to retrieve small steel tins, and gaining extra points for rotating them. Therefore the programming and design elements had to work together perfectly, with the tactics constantly evolving to outwit other teams.
Having achieved 11th place from 24 competitors in the league standings by lunch on the second day, a remarkable achievement in itself, a place in the playoffs was a fitting reward to the hours that the team put into the robot, and reflects the amount of problem-solving and constant rebuilding and reprogramming needed to adapt during the 11 league matches over two days, true Engineering.
The competition could not have happened without the amazing volunteering effort by Southampton Engineering students and alumni and the generous sponsorship they had. Eltham Engineers and Programmers will certainly be back next year.
